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Cristopher Sanchez Has to Go Down as One of the Best Diamond in the Rough Philly Sports Stories
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The Phillies and Cristopher Sanchez agreed on Friday to a six-year deal that will keep the Dominican lefty in town through 2032. There’s a club option for 2033, taking him to age 36.
It’s a deal that rewards Sanchez for his recent play as the Phils essentially rip up the previous deal, which was $22.5 million over four years. The new contract pays him $90 million guaranteed.
Sanchez really is one of the better recent success stories in all of Philly sports. And yet nobody ever seems to talk about how they acquired him. Take a look at this:
It was a move that went under the radar before the Phillies turned the corner. The pandemic hit a few months after this low-level transaction and we all became distracted with masking and wiping down doorknobs and social distancing and all of that stuff. The 2020 minor league season was cancelled, then Sanchez was recalled/optioned/recalled/optioned and spent a lot of time in the Lehigh Valley before settling in as a bona fide starter in 2023.
To jog your memory, Curtis Mead was signed out of Australia in 2018 and went to the GCL Phillies. He bounced back and forth between the Rays and their minor league teams before winding up with the White Sox, where he played 41 games last season. He’s still in his mid-20s but hasn’t exactly been Aaron Judge at the plate.
Bottom line, the Phils gave up basically nothing for Sanchez, who went on to become an ace. He ended up being everything and more, and the trade reminds you of Zack Baun, for instance, pulling a diamond out of the rough. Or maybe it’s like bringing in Mekhi Becton and moving him to guard, where he pancakes fools en route to a Super Bowl. It’s like Ernst Tanner plucking some random dude out of Europe and he goes on to become an All-Star for the Union.
The Phils totally nailed this. It’s a great story and seems to fall by the wayside in an era where they’ve thrown huge amounts of money at free agents.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com