CHICAGO -- Two days after Roberto Peréz was a surprise choice behind the plate for the opener, and a day after the organization agreed to a deal with free agent Gary Sanchez, Giants manager Gabe Kapler tried to make it very clear where he stands on Joey Bart's future.
"There's nothing that would be more impactful for the San Francisco Giants than Joey being a great major league catcher," Kapler said Saturday at Yankee Stadium. "It's absolutely the best possible outcome for Joey and for the San Francisco Giants. We're pulling hard for that to happen."
Kapler noted that there have been opportunities for Bart to show that and there would be more opportunities, and then he added one last line before moving on to the next question.
"I can't stress it enough: We really want to see Joey kick some ass tonight and going forward," he said.
An hour later, Bart was scratched from the lineup because of back tightness. A day after that, he was on the IL, meaning he'll have to wait at least 10 days to make an impact, and the Giants' catcher situation will stay as cloudy as the skies that have greeted them throughout this road trip.
After a decade of incredible production and stability behind the plate, the Giants continue to look for answers at the most important position on the field. Bart made half the starts last year, with Curt Casali and Austin Wynns splitting most of the rest, and the Giants didn't do much to address the position in the offseason, focusing their attention on addressing a leakier outfield and the rotation.
Kapler and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said at the start of camp that it would be an open competition between four catchers, three of whom ended up making the initial roster, but it's possible that the true answer in 2023 will be a player who didn't step foot in Scottsdale until the weekend.
San Francisco Giants
Sanchez, 29, is a two-time MLB All-Star who found very little interest waiting for him on the open market because of concerns about his defense. But the Giants were in on him early in the offseason and had lengthy internal conversations about how they might help him limit the defensive issues. Sanchez held out for a better opportunity and even played in the World Baseball Classic, but on Saturday the Giants announced a minor league deal with a player who made 80 starts behind the plate for the Minnesota Twins last year.
"We've been talking to and thinking about Gary for quite some time and had done a lot of work on him dating back to the middle of the offseason, maybe even earlier," Kapler said. "He was available and healthy and we thought it was a good opportunity for us to add some depth and a guy that we feel like has a chance to make a contribution at the major league level at some point."
At his best, Sanchez isn't just the type of player who would fit in with Monday's seven-homer barrage -- he's the type who would lead it. He had a pair of 30-homer seasons with the New York Yankees and hit 16 last season, although five of those came as a DH and the overall profile didn't jump off the page. Sanchez had a .201/.268/.365 slash line in games in which he caught, striking out in 27 percent of his plate appearances. That puts him about in line with Bart's production (.215/.296/.364) from last year, and sets up an interesting dynamic.
The Giants never would call this a race and they certainly don't want Bart rushing back, but with Sanchez likely to join Triple-A Sacramento in the next couple of days, there is some urgency for the incumbent. Bart said he felt "something weird" in his back while taking BP on Saturday, and all involved agreed it was best to shut it down. He never has had back problems and this one is considered minor, but by the time he's eligible to return on April 10, Sanchez -- who caught four innings in a minor league game on Sunday -- could be close to feeling ready.
It might line up so that in about a week, the Giants are evaluating whether the player to add to the big league roster is Sanchez, who has an opt-out if he's not called up by May 1, or Bart, who was supposed to see most of the time this year, but also isn't far removed from being optioned to Triple-A so he could work on his swing. And that's not all.
Peréz has gotten three of the four starts thus far and is 2-for-10 with five strikeouts, but his work behind the plate has been strong. He stole a couple of key strikes with his framing in Saturday's win, including one on Josh Donaldson in a huge spot, and he also has done a nice job of handling the staff, preparing for games and even working umpires early on. After the opener, Logan Webb said he only shook Peréz once while hitting a career-high in strikeouts.
If Peréz can stay healthy, he's likely to be heavily involved for the defense alone, but the Giants also have to figure out what to do with Blake Sabol. The Rule 5 pick has started all four games, three in left and one behind the plate. Sabol hasn't been tested in left and generally got solid reviews for his work behind the plate Sunday, although there's still a long way to go defensively. He's just 1-for-10 so far, with that hit being a bunt single.
At some point soon, the Giants are going to have to make decisions. They didn't have to really narrow it down at the end of the spring because injuries in the outfield allowed them to carry Sabol as a third catcher/outfielder, but Mitch Haniger could be back as soon as next week, and Austin Slater isn't far behind.
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Sabol cannot be optioned because he's a Rule 5 pick, so the Giants will continue to evaluate him in big league games, with a strong chance that he catches one of the final two games in this series and another one over the weekend. Bart can't be evaluated at all right now, and there won't be much that's learned about Sanchez until he's starting big league games. The Giants saw improvement from him defensively last year and Kapler said he watched a lot of video and talked to people with the Twins, and the hope is that development continues in the Orange and Black.
"He's a better framer than he had been in the past," Kapler said. "I think we all know he's got a really good arm, and that might be valuable this season as we see stolen base attempts and success rates rise. It's a pretty powerful bat at times and a guy that, when we played the Twins, we considered a dangerous bat."
That power potential likely will earn Sanchez an opportunity soon, turning this back into a four-man competition for two spots. The Giants spent all spring trying to figure out the right combination, and it now appears they'll keep that going into May. Who will be their primary catcher this season, or even their top two choices? That's still to be determined.