Phillies irritate fans with reported interest in Anibal Sanchez

Sometimes, no news is better than any news, as the Philadelphia Phillies may have found out.

A report that the Philadelphia Phillies are interested in journeyman right-hander Anibal Sanchez brought me the opportunity to use the phrase “déjà vu all over again” for the second time in a week. Jon Morosi’s intelligence, brought to us by Instagram, regarding the team’s interest in the pitcher, may or may not be accurate.

This caused one commenter on that platform to express doubt – or dismissal – by observing the writer had picked the Phillies to win the NL East last year. By text, a fellow Phillies fan ranked the acquisition of Sanchez far below a beer and a sandwich in an actual bar. Another fan’s text read, “Oh boy, maybe Anibal Sanchez…yawn….”

But that certainly isn’t the point here. Ordinarily, right here, a writer would comment at length on Sanchez’ worthiness to pitch for the Phillies. Stats would be rolled out – the pitcher’s 112-113 lifetime record and his less than stellar WHIP figure, for example.  We’ll get back to the notion of Sanchez’ “fit” with Philadelphia later, briefly.

Before that, though, we’ll recycle an observation about the Phillies place in the universe. Nearly a year ago, when some Phillies fans were excited about a new manager, the point was made that, in a slightly different way, the team was simply continuing a policy highlighted by the previous, unpopular manager – finding “value at the margins.”

Now, that phrase meant something different when Gabe Kapler used it around Philly. Kapler was referring to running the bases properly, having cutoff men in the right places always, and so forth. Once Kapler left, the Phillies moved towards a marginal-value strategy employed by many MLB teams – trying to find hidden-gem players or fading players with “gas left in the tank.”

Some teams have to fill their whole rosters with such players, as memorialized in the accounts of Billy Beane’s Oakland teams at the turn of the century. Other teams have to move to it because, essentially, they’ve committed all the big money they’re going to.

That’s where the Phillies are now. Bryce Harper’s contract, piled on top of a couple others’ not so well thought-out, put them there. Last year, the team invited literal truckloads of fading MLB players to spring training on minor league contracts. Nearly none had an impact. Josh Harrison was an exception, but the problem is that the Phillies let him go. Harrison went to Washington and promptly posted his best offensive numbers since 2016.

At this point in his career, this is the type of player Anibal Sanchez is. He is starting his age-37 season, he has pitched enough to accumulate 225 decisions, and he had a far poorer showing than his teammate Harrison last summer.

At best he will likely be what Baseball Reference projects him to be in 2021 – a .500 pitcher with an ERA about halfway between 4.00 and 5.00. In other words, he’s a fourth or fifth starter, a current Phillies need, true.

Yes, he has thrown a no-hitter, and he has played on successful teams, including the world championship Washington team in ’19 and good teams led by Joe Girardi and Dave Dombrowski in Miami and Detroit.

Maybe the Phillies’ new team president is literally swimming in data and videos that suggest Sanchez will be far better this season than the sensible projection for him above. Could he be a reliever? Maybe he can play shortstop.

What Phillies fans would prefer is that Dombrowski ignore players like Anibal Sanchez until he has a pointed meeting with the managing partner, John Middleton. At that meeting, he must forcibly argue for re-signing a certain capable catcher, and then report on the results of that meeting to the fans he now wants to attract.