8:40am: McCalvy provides additional financial details (Twitter link): Anderson will receive a $1MM signing bonus and is guaranteed salaries of $4.25MM in 2018 and $6MM in 2019. The contract also has $400K worth of incentives available each year.
8:34am: The two options are valued at $8.5MM and $9.5MM, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). Both contain $500K buyouts.
8:26am: Anderson will be guaranteed $11.75MM over the two guaranteed years of the deal, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter). MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, meanwhile, tweets that Anderson can earn up to $31.35MM over the four years if both options are exercised and if Anderson meets all of the incentives that are baked into the deal.
8:05am: The Brewers announced this morning that they’ve signed right-hander Chase Anderson to a two-year contract that runs through the 2019 season and contains club options for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Anderson, a client of Hub Sports Management, was arbitration-eligible for the second time as a Super Two player this winter. The new contract gives Milwaukee cost certainty over his final three arbitration years and as well as control over one would-be free-agent season.
“Signing Chase to a multi-year contract furthers our strategy to acquire, develop and retain talent throughout our organization,” said Brewers GM David Stearns in a press release announcing the new contract. “Chase’s 2017 performance elevated his stature in the game and demonstrated that he has the capability to lead a rotation. Since he arrived in Milwaukee, Chase has been a model contributor to our community both on and off the field. We are happy for him and his family and look forward to Chase’s contributions for years to come.”
Anderson, 30 next month, was originally acquired alongside prospect Isan Diaz in the trade that sent Jean Segura from Milwaukee to Arizona. The righty has been a stable source of useful innings since debuting with the D-backs in 2014 but elevated his game to a new level in his second season with Milwaukee. This past season, Anderson broke out with a 2.74 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 39.2 percent ground-ball rate in 141 1/3 innings.
Anderson’s velocity jumped a bit in 2017, and in addition to his career-high K/9 rate, he also posted career-best marks in swinging-strike rate and opponents’ contact rate. Beyond his velocity increase, Anderson also began throwing more cutters and curveballs at the expense of his changeup and four-seam fastball — and the results were clearly favorable. An oblique injury cost him nearly two months of his season this summer, but outside of a minor triceps issue in 2015, Anderson has never been on the MLB disabled list with an arm injury.
Moving forward, Anderson figures to play an even larger part in the Milwaukee rotation, as the Brewers are not yet certain what to expect out of emergent ace Jimmy Nelson in 2018. Nelson underwent shoulder surgery last month, and it’s known that he’ll miss a notable portion of the upcoming regular season, though the team has yet to put a specific timeline on his recovery or project a return date. Anderson will be joined in the rotation by young righty Zach Davies, though as noted in MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook on the Brewers, the Brewers possess several options but few locks beyond those two spots. In all likelihood, that pair will be joined by at least one starting pitcher that isn’t currently in the organization.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Those are some cheap options. Chase doesn’t have too much mileage on him for being 30 which is great.
Or it could be a thing to. There is some reason just why he don’t have that much mileage on that arm.
A win-win for the Brewers. If he’s good and the team falls back down, he becomes a prime trade chip. If the team continues to contend, he’s a key controllable piece at a decent price. If he gets injured or becomes ineffective, they aren’t stuck long term. No doubt seeing Nelson go down on the verge of cashing in big time influenced Anderson to take the security now rather than wait.
He’s a one and done pitcher anyway. Wouldnt be surprised if he doesn’t win but 6 or 7 games next year. And they trade him next winter
Based on what exactly? Since he fine tuned his cutter and curveball he has a completely different set of pitches at his disposal than he did when he struggled early on. Health needs to be a concern, but the stuff shouldn’t be just because you make a statement with absolutely no basis.
Based on he had a good year. He’s like another Erik Badard
Why isn’t it more like Jake Arrieta’s first good year than Erik Bedard’s?
Arrieta was always good he was a late bloomer. Bedard had one good half season. And was traded for Adam Jones. Guarantee the mariners regret that trade.
No, Arrieta was not good in Baltimore. 5.46 career ERA with the O’s. So why isn’t Chase Anderson a “late bloomer?”
Nah we make that trade everyday. Who needs an all star center fielder any ways? Actually, I think Jones probably would have been a bust if we had kept him. The Mariners have been terrible at developing players for awhile now.
This is where you really show your ignorance. Go back to 2016. His post ASG numbers show he’s not a one and done. 5-1 with a 3.02 ERA. Solid numbers for a bottom feeder team.
Same format as the extension Yangervis Solarte took from the Padres a year ago. I don’t like this from Anderson’s point of view as all he gets out of this that he wasn’t 100% going to get anyway is that he can’t be non-tendered a year from now. Club options are NEVER player friendly.
Anderson likes it from his point of view, so your comment doesn’t matter.
By your logic no one’s comments matter. I still don’t get it from Anderson’s POV. The only way he comes out on top from this is if he pitches so poorly in 2018 that he would have been non-tendered without the extension.
Unless he likes the stability and security and buys in to what they’re building in Milwaukee.
Pretty sure he also comes out on top if he were to get injured next year and miss 2019 as a result. You know, because making $6m that year is better than making $0,
He doesn’t get any stability or security from this deal genius! He wasn’t going to get non-tendered this year, probably wouldn’t have been non-tendered next year and the other 2 years are club options. And signing an extension is not a prerequisite to staying in Milwaukee where he supposedly buys into what they’re building. If anything it makes it less likely because this contract probably increases his trade value.
Dude, that’s exactly what I said. The only way Anderson comes out on top is if the Brewers would have non-tendered him a year from now (be that because of injury or poor performance) without the extension.
Newsflash, that’s what’s known as security (vs. injury).
But hey, you keep making decisions about other people’s lives for them.
That’s the thing. He doesn’t get any security out of this deal. Like what would you have put his odds of getting non-tendered after the 2018 season at without the extension? O_o
What were the odds Mike Pelfrey would be non-tendered a couple years after winning 15 games? What are the odds Shelby Miller would have been non-tendered if he didn’t have guaranteed money?
1. You have cited pitcher wins and losses. Everything you say is now irrelevant.
2. Anderson only comes out ahead here if he plays poorly enough that he would have been non-tendered a year from now. If he does it in “a couple years” the Brewers will just decline his option.
So from this discussion and a few others I have had in the past, I have come to the conclusion that commenters on here don’t realize that club options are pure downside for a player.
Seems very weird to not reference his projected arbitration salary for next season, that would really help contextualize the extension and help people decide if they think it is a good or bad value.