The San Francisco Velocity today announced that they had reached an agreement with their 34-year old left fielder Danny Sanchez to keep him in a Velocity uniform through the 1977 season.
Sanchez joined the Velocity in 1969 as a Free Agent after playing his first four seasons for the Portland Wild Things. He was coming off an MVP season at the time and while he has had some fine seasons for the Velocity he has never again reached the heights of that season. He is a 6-time All-Star, but the last time he earned that distinction was 1971.
Although there are concerns about Sanchez durability, the fact is that he hasn't missed any time with injury since spending three separate stints on the IL with back stiffness during the 1972 season. Sanchez remains a decent hitter and an adequate fielder and although he has lost some foot speed over the years he remains a very savvy base-stealer and base-runner.
There are questions about how wise an investment this is for a team struggling to rise out of the second division in the MGL even though Sanchez did agree to a drop in annual salary from his current 356K, which is 12th highest in the WPK.