Former first-round pick Brian Anderson has come full circle, deciding to try his hand as an outfielder again. Anderson tallied 355 big league games from 2005-09, mostly for the White Sox, before switching to the mound in 2010. He battled injuries as a pitcher, and tells MLBTR now, "I'd love to get back on the field again." Here are more notes from the Central divisions.
- The White Sox are "determined" to acquire a catcher before the Winter Meetings are through, Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com tweets.
- The Cardinals today met with Mark Ellis' agent, Jamie Murphy of TWC, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (on Twitter). The Cardinals currently have youngster Kolten Wong penciled in at second base, but Ellis might allow Wong to start the season in the minors, or might provide an insurance policy in case Wong struggles. Maybe it's too early to read too much into it, however — Slusser notes that Murphy has met with many teams.
- Jhonny Peralta takes care of the Cardinals' offensive void at shortstop but he comes with plenty of question marks, writes Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- The Pirates are looking for a first baseman, but they say they could just stick with Gaby Sanchez there, reports MLB.com's John Schlegel. "I think a lot of people are uncomfortable with Gaby as our answer. We're not," says GM Neal Huntington. Huntington does note, however, that Sanchez pounds left-handed pitching and struggles against right-handers. It seems unlikely that the Pirates would go into the 2014 season with Sanchez as their primary first baseman against righties.
Tim Dierkes and Zach Links contributed to this post.
As a Sox fan….thank god!
Chris I.,Cron For Reed,Dunn? White Sox’s get 2 guys who can Catch and Angels get another BP piece and a guy that can rotate with Pujols at 1B/DH.
Reed is worth way more than that.
Just don’t sign another Wigginton, Mo, and the Cards shouldn’t have much to complain about.
So, correct me if I’m wrong, but the Cards current plan is to have Wong at 2nd and Carpenter shift over to 3rd, right?
Yes. But they do need a back up plan and they’d like it to be a RH bat that can also play 3rd.
Yep cuz Wong Wont be good
Cards met with Ellis?? Nothing Wong with that.
Mo can do no Wong
A good compliment to Sanchez would have been Garrett Jones. Oh wait, you gave him away for nothing.
Garrett Jones was good enough to get a small major league deal, but bad enough to have absolutely no trade value, due to the raise he was going to get in arbitration. Nobody wants to pay 7 million and rising for that type of production.
Jones was in a platoon with Sanchez last year and hit .233 with a .708 OPS…so…no. He clearly isn’t a good compliment to Sanchez.
I liked that platoon in theory in 2013, but it didn’t work out. I actually wouldn’t have hated them bringing him back and hoping for a rebound season. That doesn’t strike me as worse than some of the alternatives being thrown around (Moreland, Morrison). But I can’t blame them for wanting to move on.
At the end of MLB Tonight Greg Amsinger said per Morsi Kemp maybe to Tigers so it’s starts with Scherzer.
yeah, right. after they already traded Fister? I think not.
Brian, you’re 41 and haven’t played pro ball in 8 years…I think your time is passed
What?
He’s 31 and hasn’t stopped playing baseball. He tried his hand at pitching the last few years, and despite posting really good number’s as a pitcher, he could not stay healthy. He was a great defensive center fielder, but I’m not too sure anyone would want him at this point.
Mark Ellis wouldn’t be bad, but I wonder if Mo has thought about talking to Michael Young. Not sure where he’d be money-wise, but he’d be able to fill in at 1B, 2B, or 3B for Adams/Wong/ or Carpenter when facing lefties on the mound, and would be a pretty decent bat off the bench for pinch-hitting. Good clubhouse guy too
Good lord, I hope he hasn’t.
Who are some possible catchers the Sox could acquire?
John Buck or Kurt Suzuki. I think that about covers it.
Well if the Padres are in love with Austin Hedges and don’t mind going with Nick Hundley and John Baker a while longer then maybe Grandal could be available. Other than that, I got nothing.
Writers/orioles or hector Sánchez/giants
I think I’d rather go with Grandal or Conger if they can get either.
It looks like they were trying to get Hank Conger today, so they might still be talking to the Angels.
The Sox already have two catchers that can only hit 250, they do ont need a third.
Grandal and Headley make a ton of sense assuming they can get an agreement with Headley on an extension window.
I can’t imagine what they would have to give up tho with a guarantee of an extension (if the sox were to get a window to negotiate with him and they agree to a deal)
The Sox should wait a year and then go for Headley as a FA. To trade for him now would be ridiculous as the Padres want the world for him.. The Sox will be competitive but I’m not sure they are getting anywhere near the playoffs this season and you only pay a lot for a guy like that for a 1 year rental if you are sure you are going to win it all or sure you can sign the player.
I think its time for Andersen to realize its time to retire. Wasn’t good as a hitter or pitcher
Couldnt agree more. as a sox fan, i HATED brian anderson. Couldnt hit, couldnt field. I almost felt like he single handedly took them into the spiral of winning the series in 05 to where they are now. he literally was that bad. Watching him whiff, pop out, then misplay balls daily made me legit hate the guy for life. and thats the ONLY time thats ever happened baseball wise.
Wait, this Brian Anderson?: baseball-reference.com/players/a/anderbr03.shtml
He only had 21 PAs, and hit well. Is there a different one?
He was a highly touted prospect that failed, and nothing more. To blame him for the downward descent is absurd. Why not look to the Swisher trades, or making Kotsay a DH over Thome, or Ozzie phoning it in, or being terrible at drafting and developing position players, or losing the international market to a kickback scandal?
What? I remember BA being a great defensive CF player.
I really hope the Sox can score a catcher. I just don’t know what they have to offer to other teams. De Aza? Quintana? Alexei? Beckham?
Of course NH is going to say that about 1st base. He isn’t going to put himself in the corner with agents or on the trade market. With saying that, they need at least a lefty to platoon with Gaby.