White Sox: Yolmer Sanchez wins the second base gold glove
The Chicago White Sox have some defensive depth at second base as Yolmer Sanchez is the next second baseman in the organization to be recognized.
The Chicago White Sox clearly have some depth at the second base position, at least defensively. Earlier, Nick Madrigal won the Minor League Baseball Gold Glove for second base and yesterday it was announced that Yolmer Sanchez was the American League Gold Glove winner for second base. It is extremely important for a baseball team to be solid defensively and the White Sox are clearly trying to build that.
Sanchez is the first White Sox position player to win the Gold Glove since Robin Ventura won it in 1998. Jose Altuve and DJ LeMahieu were the other two finalists and Sanchez beat them out. Those are two elite players that any other player would just be happy being mentioned in the same sentence, let alone beating them. He had a better Defensive Runs Saved (11) than everyone in the American League so he was the favorite for the award going in. Only Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals had a better DRS amongst the second baseman in the MLB.
Yolmer takes some heat for being a below-average hitter. His elite glove is going to allow him to earn a major pay increase, but it might have to be for another team. The White Sox front office apparently plans on spending a lot of money in the offseason on different issues they have in their lineup. They also believe that Madrigal is going to come in and provide similar defense while being a much better hitter. That could cause Yolmer to either be an expensive defensive replacement or in another dugout in 2020. He deserves to be recognized for his defensive work so we can view that as a problem for tomorrow.
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Lucas Giolito was also nominated for the honor amongst American League pitchers but he did not win the award as he lost it to Mike Leake. Giolito had a great season in his own right and deserved to be nominated. Sanchez won the award and should be proud. That should earn him a decent payday and maybe he will remain with the White Sox as a result. Either way, the defense is so important and they should both be proud of their recognition.