Phillies getting extension done early with left-hander in aggressive move
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez.
The Phillies and left-hander Cristopher Sanchez are in the final stages of completing a four-year contract extension, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports. Sanchez is already under team control through the 2028 season, so the deal will give the Phils some cost certainty over those upcoming four years and beyond. Heyman indicates there are multiple club option years, so the Phillies can now control at least two of Sanchez’s free-agent seasons. The 27-year-old Sanchez is represented by agent Gene Mato.
The signing continues Philadelphia’s penchant for locking up arms, as all of the extensions signed during Dave Dombrowski’s tenure as president of baseball operations have come on the pitching end. These deals range from shorter-term deals to avoid arbitration to the much pricier three-year, $126M extension Zack Wheeler signed last March, and Sanchez’s deal should fall somewhere in between.
Considering Sanchez’s relatively advanced age (he turns 28 in December) and the fact that he isn’t even eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason, an extension is an aggressive move on the part of Dombrowski’s front office. While the southpaw was lining himself up well for some nice salaries in his arb years, having a relatively inexpensive arm in the rotation could have helped balance out the much larger luxury-tax hits of pricier players like Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Aaron Nola, all of whom are signed through at least the 2027 season. Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker also on the books through 2026, J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber through 2025, and the likes of Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott have also played well enough to merit consideration for long-term commitments.
The Phillies surpassed the luxury-tax threshold in each of the last two seasons and are set to do again in 2024, as the team has shown it is more than willing to spend big in pursuit of a championship. Against this backdrop, it isn’t surprising that the Phils are again opening the checkbook to retain a player they like, and who they feel might end up being something of a bargain over the course of the extension, considering how Sanchez has emerged as a starter in 2023-24.
An international signing for the Rays out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, Sanchez was dealt to Philadelphia in November 2019 in a one-for-one trade for Curtis Mead. An under-the-radar move at the time, it has become a pretty intriguing deal in hindsight given how Sanchez has developed as a capable MLB starter, and how Mead went on to become a top-100 prospect in Tampa’s farm system (and a big leaguer himself, albeit in only 50 games to date).
Sanchez showed some flashes of his future ability as a starter and a reliever during his time in the Rays’ farm system, and the Phillies used him mostly as a starter during his time in the minors. He made his MLB debut in 2021 and still worked as a reliever in all but four of his big league outings (52 2/3 innings over 23 appearances) in 2021-22, but some injuries opened the door for Sanchez to eventually step into the Philadelphia rotation himself last season. The result was a 3.44 ERA over 99 1/3 innings, supported by a 24.2% strikeout rate, a four percent walk rate and a 57% grounder rate.
That success has largely carried over to this season, as Sanchez has a 2.91 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and a 59.4% grounder rate. While the walk rate is no longer elite and Sanchez’s K% is now below average, he is still generating tons of grounders and could even be considered somewhat unlucky since he has a .342 BABIP. Sanchez is doing a solid job of limiting hard contract and in particular of keeping the ball in the park. After allowing 16 homers in his 99 1/3 innings in 2023, Sanchez has thus far given up just one home run in 77 1/3 frames this year.
This grounder-heavy and relatively low-strikeout skill set could lend itself to some variance if the ground balls start finding holes in the infield, or if Sanchez’s newfound success at limiting homers doesn’t continue. That said, the Phillies are obviously confident enough in Sanchez as a viable rotation member that they have now firmed up their commitment to him for much of the decade.
From Sanchez’s perspective, he’ll now land the first big payday of his professional career. Since he wouldn’t have entered free agency until after his age-31 season, Sanchez will gain some life-changing financial ability now, rather than run the risk that an injury or a dip in form might’ve scuttled his future chances at a big multiyear contract.
Looking at the bigger picture of the Phillies’ pitching situation, extending Sanchez creates some new questions about whether or not retaining Suarez is also in the team’s plans. Suarez is eligible for arbitration one more time before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign, and the left-hander’s breakout as a Cy Young Award candidate this season will surely elevate his asking price. With so much money already committed to the rotation in particular, retaining Sanchez could be the Phillies’ way of creating a hedge if Suarez does depart in free agency. Although, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Phils again break the bank to keep Suarez on yet another noteworthy extension.
With so much of their rotation now locked up, the Phillies have limited room on paper for top pitching prospects Andrew Painter and Mick Abel. This could make Philadelphia more open to moving young pitching for more immediate help at this year’s trade deadline, but it should be noted that Abel hasn’t performed well at Triple-A this season and Painter won’t pitch until 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. Until the Phils have more clarity on their top young arms in particular, Dombrowski would certainly be wary of dealing from the starting ranks. Spencer Turnbull has excelled when used as a starter this season as well, but he is only signed through this season.
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