It’s been no secret that a large part of the Phillies success so far this season has been due to the team’s starting rotation, particularly with Suarez, Wheeler, Nola and Sanchez making each of their starts and routinely going deep into games.
It’s come up recently that Suarez, a Cy Young favorite, may be in like for a new contract and Dave Dombrowski had commented along the lines of how they don’t really want to do midseason extensions so the players can focus.
Well, that’s not the case for Cristopher Sanchez, it seems, who was awarded an extension on Saturday.
Sánchez is stayin’ in Philly 🤝#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/mQFQpnATV9
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 22, 2024
Sanchez was acquired by the Phillies via trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on November 20, 2019. They traded away Curtis Mead, who was in the Top 100 not too long ago and many Phillies fans were upset about that.
Cristopher’s path to the majors was an odd one. He sat out what would have been his first season in the franchise due to COVID cancelling the minor league season in 2020. Through 2021 and 2022 he was mostly in AAA with 22 game appearances at the major league level that weren’t too impressive.
His numbers at AAA in 2023 weren’t eye-popping, but he came up late and earned himself a slot in the rotation as the fourth guy and his numbers in the majors were actually better than in the minors.
The concern entering 2024 was that he had never gone deep into any games, but he’s blown that notion apart. He already has 77.1 innings across 14 starts. Despite a few rocky starts, he holds an incredible 2.91 ERA on the season and is clearly entrenched as the team’s fourth starter.
The new deal buys out his arbitration years (through 2028), but the important part for the Phillies is that it gives them team options for 2 years after that. That means they could have Nola and Sanchez locked down through 2030 and Wheeler through 2028.
The clear extension candidates the Phillies will need to be working with next include Ranger Suarez (free agent in 2025) and Jeff Hoffman (2024).
