Pitchers changing their pitch mix is a trend that has completely turned around some guy's careers...including Corbin and now Anibal of the Nats. It's similar to the whole launch angle movement for hitters (Daniel Murphy).
I like what I see when you look under the hood. The lowest hard hit rate in all of baseball. Good K rate. Low walks. He made 3 starts (4 appearances) against us last year and had a 1.50 ERA and held us to a .576 OPS. Nice to move him from the rival Braves.
There is a proven trend that explains his season last year. Look at Charlie Morton as another guy in his mid-30s that started doing something different with his pitch mix and skyrocketed. 19 mill over 2 years isn't that much to pay, even if Sanchez becomes just an average mid-rotation guy. If he keeps close to the same numbers again as last year, then we got a steal.
If he has a few DL trips and makes 25 starts, then I'm fine with using a Fedde to fill in for a handful of starts. I want a vet like Sanchez healthy down the stretch when we could be playing huge games against the Braves/Phils/Mets.
