The Philadelphia Phillies may have just angered MLB teams.
The Philadelphia Phillies made a rather surprising move over the weekend, signing star pitcher Cristopher Sanchez to a massive contract extension.
The Phillies handed Sanchez a six-year, $107 million deal, keeping him in Philadelphia through 2032. Great for Philly, and Sanchez is certainly good enough for that money.
But the catch is that Sanchez was already basically under team control through 2030 with potential club options for the last two years of the pact. The Phillies absolutely, positively did not have to extend Sanchez.
In doing so, former MLB general manager and current insider Jim Bowden feels that Philadelphia may have set a dangerous precedent around baseball in the process.
"The way the #Phillies reworked the contract of Cristopher Sánchez sets a horrible precedent for teams," Bowden posted on X. "Great for Sanchez, generous of the Phillies, but now a player that has far outperformed his agreed upon contract might ask his club to do the same."
Surely, plenty of clubs around the league — particularly ones with smaller payrolls — are probably aggravated with the Phillies, but should Philadelphia really care?
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez. Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images.The Phillies did what they feel was best for Sanchez and the team, and that's what really matters here. Unless front offices around the majors are going to suddenly freeze out Philadelphia, this shouldn't be a huge deal.
Sanchez logged a 2.50 ERA while allowing just 171 hits and racking up 212 strikeouts over 202 innings of work in 2025. Somehow, he didn't make the All-Star team, but he did finish second in NL Cy Young award voting.
The 29-year-old made his big-league debut in 2021 and broke out in 2023, finishing with a 3.44 ERA across 19 appearances and 18 starts. Then, in 2024, Sanchez was named an All-Star after posting a 3.32 ERA through 181.2 frames.
With Zack Wheeler inching closer and closer to the end of his career and Ranger Suarez now gone, the Phillies wanted to ensure that they kept Sanchez under wraps for the long haul, and they did that while compensating him well.
And to be quite honest, Philadelphia was able to strike an incredibly team-friendly deal here. Paying $17.8 million annually for a pitcher of Sanchez's caliber is a steal.
Yes, Sanchez is a bit older than your average pitcher still years away from free agency, but he's far from ancient, and now, he'll spend his prime in the City of Brotherly Love.
Teams with talented young pitchers with multiple years of club control remaining just got hit pretty hard here, but the Phillies clearly don't care. Nor should they.
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