Phillies Extend Cristopher Sanchez

3:25PM: According to , the extension will guarantee Sanchez $22.5MM in total. The club option year for 2029 is valued at $14MM, while the 2030 club option is worth $15MM. Gelb adds that the price of both options will rise if Sanchez manages to finish in the top 10 of NL Cy Young award voting. 10:33AM : The Phillies have officially announced the extension, with no financial terms released. Sanchezs deal covers the 2025-28 seasons, and Philadelphia has club options on his services for both 2029 and 2030. 9:10AM : The Phillies and left-hander are in the final stages of completing a four-year contract extension, the New York Posts 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 Sanchezs free agent seasons. The 27-year-old Sanchez is represented by agent Gene Mato. The signing continues Philadelphias penchant for locking up arms, as signed during Dave Dombrowskis 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 signed last March, and Sanchezs deal should fall somewhere in between. Considering Sanchezs relatively advanced age (he turns 28 in December) and the fact that he isnt even eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason, an extension is an aggre sive move on the part of Dombrowskis 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, , , and , all of whom are signed through at least the 2027 season. and also on the books through 2026, and through 2025, and the likes of , , and have also played well enough to merit consideration for long-term commitments. The Phillies surpa sed 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 isnt 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 Roman Quinn Jersey 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 . 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 Tampas 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 succe s 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 Sanchezs 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 given up just one home run in 77 1/3 frames this year. While not a particularly hard thrower in relation to the rest of the league, Sanchez has added quite a bit of velocity, now averaging 94.3mph on his fastball after averaging 92.1mph last year. This grounder-heavy and relatively low-strikeout skillset could lend itself to some variance if the ground balls start finding holes in the infield, or if Sanchezs newfound succe s at limiting homers doesnt 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 Sanchezs perspective, hell now land the first big payday of his profe sional career. Since he wouldnt 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 mightve scuttled his future chances at a big multi-year 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 teams plans. Suarez is eligible for arbitration one more time before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign, and the left-handers 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, though it wouldnt 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 . This could make Philadelphia more open to moving young pitching for more immediate help at this years trade deadline, though it should be noted that Abel hasnt performed well at Triple-A this season and Painter wont 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. has excelled when used as a starter this season as well, though he is only signed through this season. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images Taj Bradley Jersey