9h55: Anderson will be guaranteed $ 4MM, tweets Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
9:40 am: It’s a one-year Major League contract for Anderson, MLBTR has learned.
9:10 am: The Phillies agree to a contract with the free agent Chase Anderson, reports Robert Murray of Fansided (via Twitter) The Hub Sports Management customer will join a growing stock of experienced weapons vying for entry into the back of the Philadelphia rotation. Your business is awaiting completion of a physical exam.
Anderson, 33, spent the 2020 season with the Blue Jays, but missed the start of the season shortened by oblique tension. He came back and shot well in August, before facing a difficult month in September. Overall, he totaled just 33 2/3 entries with an ERA of 7.22.
Despite this ugly brand, there are many reasons to expect the Anderson pickup to be a valuable, low-cost investment. From 2014-19, Anderson was a durable source of medium or better innings, launching for an ERA of 3.94 and a SIERA of 4.43 over the lifetime of 857 frames between D-backs and Brewers. The only passes through Anderson’s IL at that time were a minimum stay for triceps tension in 2015 and then brief absences due to an oblique strain and a laceration in the finger. His arm remained well up in the rotation in both Arizona and Milwaukee, and even last year’s absence had nothing to do with his elbow or shoulder.
Going a little deeper in your 2020 work, there are also reasons for optimism. Anderson decreased the use of his quad bike in favor of more cutters and exchanges, and the results were encouraging in some ways. He posted a 24.7% elimination rate, high in his career, which was above the league average, and his 6.5% hike rate was an improvement over Brewers days, reaching well below the average. of the league. Anderson was affected by an average of 0.362 in the balls in play and a home-run rate so high that a positive regression is almost inevitable (2.94 HR / 9).
Anderson has been a bit prone to blows throughout his career, but there is little reason to expect such fierce fights to continue. Independent field metrics that normalize the home run rate, such as xFIP (4.09) and SIERA (4.01), were slightly more optimistic about it than its reference ERA.
Anderson will join the left Matt Moore on the big league list as an economical option at the back of the spin behind the top starters Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin. Its addition could allow the Phillies to provide better perspectives Spencer Howard more time on Triple-A and to move Vince Velasquez for the bullpen, but it is likely that each of Moore, Anderson, Howard and Velasquez will start games for the Phils in 2021. Teams will be more cautious than ever with workloads after reducing last year’s list of games, so , having several initial options is of increasing importance. Phils also added Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell in secondary league pacts.