Philly Front Office

There are times in all of our sporting lives that we are wrong. Sometimes we hold on to some bad grudges and refuse to admit we were wrong, but others – those glorious others – we are all too happy to praise the heavens that we were not the ones making the decisions on that fateful day. Think drafting Brandon Graham over Earl Thomas. Maybe Thomas was better for a time, but BG will go down as THE Eagle of all Eagles. Today though, November 20th, we celebrate the Phillies on their anniversary of trading Curtis Mead to the Tampa Bay Rays for Cristopher Sanchez.

Phillies Top Prospects Report: End of Season

Mead signed with the Phillies as a 17 year old out of Australia. In one year (+2 games) with the Gulf Coast League Phillies, he hit a solid .285 and was a mid-tier prospect. That didn’t stop the Phillies from trading him to the Rays for soon to be 23 year old Cristopher Sanchez. It seemed like a weird swap at the time. 23 for 19? it didn’t make sense.

Sanchez had signed with the Rays as a 17 year old for $65k; not nothing, but also not top tier money. For 5 years, Sanchez messed around in the low minors for the Rays various farm teams. He wasn’t striking many guys out and was giving up a lot of hits. His shine as a player had completely come off. Then in 2019 things came together a bit with Sanchez sporting a 2 ERA across low and high A. Of course, he was now 22, so it didn’t mean a whole lot.

After the trade, nothing happened. Well, at least nothing happened here. Due to the Covid pandemic, the 2020 minor league season was cancelled. However, since both were foreign citizens, both played ball in their home countries. Sanchez struggled mightily in limited appearances in the Dominican League. However, Mead blew up in Australia hitting nearly .350 and being named MVP of the Australian League. Shit.

Mead didn’t let up in his return stateside the next season and started jumping up prospect lists. He started 2022 in AA and made it to AAA by the end of the year. By 2023, Mead was the age Sanchez was when the trade was made and ranked the #33 prospect nationally by MLB.com. Sanchez on the other hand was only considered the 17th best prospect in the Phillies’ notoriously bad system. He made his ML debut in 2022, but struggled. His minor league numbers weren’t much better. The Phillies had screwed up.

The Value of Phillies Under Contract

In 2023, Sanchez was pressed into action for the big club and…didn’t stink. Come June he made it to the rotation and stuck around until the end of the year managing a 3.32 ERA in 95 innings with a very good 91-14 K/BB ratio in 17 starts. Mead made his debut in 2023 and in 24 games held his own. Nothing special, but Mead was only 22 while Sanchez was 26. He had all the time he would need to develop.

Come 2024, Sanchez was a lock for the Phillies rotation while Mead made the Rays out of Spring Training. Unfortunately for Mead and the Rays, his average was middling and his power never came. By May he was back in AAA. As for Sanchez, he rode a solid start to a blistering June that saw his ERA drop to 2.41. The Phillies rewarded him with a contract extension (that’s no reward at this point, it’s a steal). Mead would get called up again, but finish the season in AAA. Sanchez would finish 10th in Cy Young votes.

Then 2025 happened. As we all know, Sanchez completely leveled up from his already great 2024. One of the things that was acknowledged in his renaissance was that he started pitching slower to get his command together. Well in 2025, the velocity was back up to the upper 90s and the command came with it. The result was him leap frogging Zack Wheeler to become the ace of the staff and finishing a unanimous 2nd in Cy Young voting. As for Mead, 2025 was a struggle. He started bad and things never improved. Even his already paltry average was down and the power was completely nonexistent. Then, at the trade deadline, the Rays dealt him to the White Sox along with 2 other prospects for rental pitcher Adrian Houser.

Can Cristopher Sanchez Win the Cy Young?

While Mead is only 25 and has hopes for a fresh start in 2026 with the lowly White Sox, this race was called a long time ago. Sanchez is one of the premier starters in all of baseball and is signed for the next 4 years. So many, me included, were convinced the Phillies had lost this trade going into 2023. Of course, we would be the ones to trade the Rays a gem. Not this time!