Freddy Sanchez finally inching closer to return

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Freddy Sanchez will begin a minor-league rehab assignment “no later than Tuesday” of next week. Sanchez has been playing extended spring training games in Arizona, but manager Bruce Bochy speculated that he’ll need about 30 at-bats on the rehab stint before potentially rejoining the Giants. Acquired from the Pirates in the middle of last season, Sanchez has played just 25 games for the Giants because of shoulder and knee injuries. Despite missing time and posting a measly .619 OPS down the stretch last season the Giants inked him to a two-year, $12 million contract in late October. In addition to the injuries Sanchez is 32 years old and hasn’t had an above-average OPS since 2007, so the contract is obviously looking like a mistake right now. Juan Uribe, Mark DeRosa, and Matt Downs have done very well filling in for Sanchez at second base, combining to hit .308 with an .859 OPS that ranks sixth among all MLB teams for the position.