Anibal Sanchez: Should Miami Marlins Make Contract Extension Top Priority?

Shoulder injuries stalled Anibal Sanchez early in his career, so it was more than a minor concern when shoulder tightness caused him to push back his first spring training start.

Seven starts into the 2012 season, those concerns are becoming a distant memory.

Sanchez hasn’t thrown less than six innings in any start this season and is in the middle of a five-start stretch in which he has completed seven innings each time out.

This season has been a continuation of the past two years, in which Sanchez has become the model of consistency after spending time on the 60-day DL twice with shoulder strains and also having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

In February, Sanchez was awarded the $8 million he had requested through arbitration, instead of the $6.9 million the Miami Marlins had offered.

With this being his last season as an arbitration-eligible player, he is a prime candidate for a contract extension.

Setting performance to the side and speaking directly to his durability, Sanchez has made 32 starts the past two seasons, including throwing 195-plus innings in each.

Is that sample size sufficient for owner Jeffrey Loria and team president David Samson to consider Sanchez’s bill of health to be clean enough to warrant an extension?

When performance is added to the two-plus years of injury-free results, the risk-reward of having Sanchez in the rotation for the next four or five years becomes much more tempting.

Including his seven starts this season, Sanchez has managed a 3.47 ERA since the start of 2010.

He has also seen a steady increase in his K/9 rate from a 7.25 mark two seasons ago to 9.26 last year and a 9.70 K/9 through 47.1 innings this season. In that same time, his BB/9 is down from 3.23 to 2.28.

The Marlins weren’t strangers to spending money this winter as they announced the signings of Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buehrle to a total of $191 million within the span of a week.

Comparing him to some of the starting pitchers that signed contracts this offseason, Sanchez will likely cost the Marlins somewhere in the $11 million to $14 million range per year to extend.

Edwin Jackson posted a 3.79 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 199.2 innings in 2011 and signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals worth $11 million.

John Danks signed a five-year, $65 million deal ($13 million per season) with the Chicago White Sox after 170.1 innings with a 4.33 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.

After being courted by Miami, CJ Wilson signed a five-year $77.5 million contract ($15.5 million per season) with the Los Angeles Angels. Wilson made 34 starts for the Texas Rangers in 2011, throwing 223.1 innings with 2.94 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Jackson, Danks and Wilson have all proven more durable than Sanchez. Not all the stats are comparable, but it does give the Marlins some numbers to work with when looking to possibly sign Sanchez.

According to MLB Trade Rumors' list of available starting pitchers for the 2013 season, Sanchez will be behind Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke in the free agent pecking order.

A few pitchers that will draw comparable attention to Sanchez as free agents include Jackson, Francisco Liriano, Shaun Marcum and Brandon McCarthy.

Players with club options such as Dan Haren, James Shields and Tim Hudson weren’t included in the lists above because of the high probability those options will be picked up.

Given the unlikely event the Marlins are able to sign Cole Hamels or Zack Grienke, it would make sense to keep Sanchez in-house, especially given their lack of MLB-ready arms in the farm system.