When you can sign a guy who’s five years younger with an era two runs lower?
I almost always give management benefit of the doubt, as they certainly know more than I do. And I doubt they're counting on him for very much. But my unsophisticated eyes can't really find any bright spots looking at his numbers.
Giolito and Hendriks will not be taking up 40 man space once on the 60-day IL, I believe. I see above it may be Murphy and Hendriks is maybe already there.
I mean isn't Homer Bailey about as bad a pitcher name as there is?
I hoping Corey Kluber V2.0 doesn't cost as much as the first version...
Yeah, pretty sure he'll be the Opening Day starter, and have the same contract. It's almost identical.
Come on, this guy isn't being looked at as an opening day starter or even a regular part of the rotation. Long relief and depth is a need. A deal like this won't tie their hands if it doesn't work out.
I mean god, I hope not. Really I'm just thinking that signing another very old guy feels much more like a Bloom move than what we've seen from Breslow. OTOH this signing probably definitely closes the door on any hope of landing Montgomery, the same way the fact that they'd moved on to Kluber closed the door on bringing Eovaldi back.
I am not sure being teammates with the likes of Bobby Dalbec and Uncle Cooper Griswold supports the assertion that Anderson is.
Don’t most teams take fliers on guys for their last roster spots, when the alternatives all have options remaining? It doesn’t seem all that hard to understand, as long as we don’t assign any expectations to him. At all.
Good point. I have always heard that a walk is as good as a home run.
I think this is right. He’s a (likely)cheap, veteran arm who they see something in. The Pirates cut him, so he’s just happy to have a job and will do whatever the Sox want. If it doesn’t work out, they’ll release him. Not really worth much emotion.
Ideally you'd like to see a better pitcher making the team but having a guy like Anderson will definitely serve that purpose and at times will allow Winckowski not to be used in that role.
The Pirates have a boatload of good young pitching and some roster issues of their own with guys who need to be on the ML roster or waived.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/pirates-2024-season-preview-projected-lineup-rotation-and-how-soon-to-expect-no-1-draft-pick-paul-skenes/
I realize Anderson is just a warm body, but those soft contact numbers are a little something to wish on.
I don't think Monty's coming, but this deal should have absolutely no bearing on that at all. Kluber cost 10.5 mil and a rotation slot. Anderson will be lucky to get 10% of that and is mop up and depth.
It does kind of sound like Anderson was a guy they had on a short list of potential pickups if he was released. Especially since they signed him to a major league contact immediately. No waiting to see the market develop at all.
If innings is the goal, I certainly can give them some innings. Cheap.
I think the pen looks as good or better than it would have without the move, and he doesn't displace anyone important, which is really all I care about. Well I like the added depth, too.
Yeah, I'll take Anderson.
And again, the Pirates have their own pitching crunch. His spring performance was solid and had nothing to do with anything as far as him sticking there.
Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t see how adding a guy who’s really stunk for 4 years makes anything better. But it’s a low risk move presumably.
Well obviously Breslow & Co. care, and think he can be effective in the role they signed him for. Maybe they're wrong, and you can call it rationalization, but there should be enough posted in this thread to explain why they may look at him as more than a Pirates castoff or simply a pitcher who's sucked for four years. There's a reason they like him at least enough to prefer him for their final bullpen slot.
