Anibal Sanchez (SP, DET) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 43% of Fleaflicker leagues

ANALYSIS: After two quality starts and two wins to begin the season, Anibal Sanchez was knocked around in his following two appearances. He was recently tagged for seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in only 2.1 frames of work, and has failed to pitch past the sixth inning in all four starts. Sanchez has already accumulated nine walks and four home runs allowed, a pretty sizable jump in his BB/9 and HR/9 ratios from his career averages. His opponent BABIP is also nearly .100 points higher so far in 2016.

Despite all the negatives, it's definitely way too early in the season to believe this is how it's going to be for Sanchez the rest of the way. He has a very good offense backing him up that should provide him with solid run support, but it's still fair to predict that he's potentially on the decline of his 10-year career. He posted a 4.99 ERA in 2015, the first time it has been above 4.00 since 2008, and has only won more than 10 games twice in his career. Sanchez is good for eating innings, accumulating a mediocre amount of strikeouts, and benefiting from a good offense. It's better to have lower expectations with him, but he's worth a look based on his 3.75 career ERA.