The Brewers have announced a one-year deal with lefty Brett Anderson. The GSE Worldwide client will be guaranteed $5MM with up to $2MM in potential incentives, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter).
Anderson, who his closing in on his 32nd birthday, becomes the latest addition to the Milwaukee pitching staff. The club recently agreed to terms with Josh Lindblom.
This probably isn’t the high-impact rotation move some would like to see the Brewers make. But that has simply not been the way GM David Stearns has operated.
Anderson did put in a strong effort in 2019, throwing 176 innings of 3.89 ERA ball over 31 starts with the Athletics. He averaged just 4.6 strikeouts per nine, but was quite stingy with the free passes (2.5 BB/9) and delivered a typically strong 54.5% groundball rate.
It remains to be seen just what role Anderson will occupy. With the Brewers’ flexible approach to deploying pitchers, it’s possible that he will start but perhaps not be asked to go deep into games. In 2019, opposing hitters ramped up against Anderson as the game went on, with >100 OPS point jumps each time through the order (.631, .735, .841).
The Brewers will presumably still be seeking additional arms. While they’ve added Eric Lauer along with Lindblom and now Anderson, the team has also seen the departures of Zach Davies, Chase Anderson, Junior Guerra, Jimmy Nelson, Jordan Lyles, and Gio Gonzalez.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Okay.
Slow work day?
Milwaukee has excellent fan support, or at least they did before this winter.
It is all John Middleton’s fault.
didnt sign both Cole and Rendon. cant believe it. how do you fire an owner.
Obvious.
In a related story, Bret Anderson is injured and will miss a bunch of time in the 2020 season…
It’s just a matter of time people…
yep
The irony of a Cubs fan talking about free agent signings getting hurt.
Oh no however will they survive the $5M hit for one year and performance bonuses not given?
The Brewers have their ace.
Congrats to him for making 20+ starts for the 3rd time in his 11-year career. Hope he cashed in.
better than Chase?
a damp rag is better than Chase Anderson.
2 years ago brewers fans wouldn’t shut up about how awesome chase was
I admit Ace Chanderson was a thing. Hope he pitches well in Toronto and another AL team trades for him. He is a great guy.
Just like cub fans about the Darvish.
Or the 2016 team becoming a dynasty.
Yeah…that never happened.
It’s going to be hard to judge because the AL east is going to eat Anderson alive.
Brewers haven’t been in the AL for about 21 years but ok
Did you follow that thread? Chase Anderson friend, keep up.
Too many Anderson’s going on here. Hard to keep them straight!
He’s a lefty so there’s a good chance. Biggest issue for pitchers in Miller Park has been limiting the long ball. I like how Sterns is trying to get more lefties in the rotation.
Brewers really going all-in on a championship!
Brett is a good innings eater if healthy. I’m assuming this will be an incentive based deal.
The one year he was healthy
He’s never been a good innings eater because he’s never healthy
The 3 seasons he’s made 30 starts he’s thrown at least 175 innings. We all know he has a chronic injury history. You’re not telling me anything new.
I don’t think you know what “innings eater” means
Innings eater when healthy. I realize he’s not been healthy. But when he makes 30 starts he hasn’t pitched under 175 innings. It obviously is dependent upon his health.
Jake Odorizzi is consistently healthy but doesn’t eat innings. He’s thrown over 175 innings once in his career. Anderson w all his injuries has done it 3 times. Which is why I said “when healthy.” That’s a big assumption, I know.
If Brett Anderson is giving you 6 innings every 5th day, he’s going to stop being healthy. Because of the workload. He’s going to break down. Because he’s not an innings-eater.
Oh come on, just admit it when you say something stupid. Anderson has had 3 seasons where he jas started 30 games and he’s been playing for 11 seasons. What you wanted to say is that you HOPE he is an inning eater for the 2020 season. But right now, I would not give him that title.
No I meant what I said, chief. 5 million is a relatively high guarantee for a guy with his injury history though. I figured it would be more incentive based. As long as he is healthy; he will eat innings. I don’t doubt that.
Even if he is healthy, and pitching well, he still won’t be giving us 6 innings. That’s not how Counsell manages starters.
If “innings eater” means going 5 consistently as a starter, or 3 as a reliever for Counsell, then yeah.
Your definition of an innings eater is interesting.
could be a good deal if he’s healthy
Aren’t the Brewers supposed to be in win-now mode?
Supposed to be.
They lost money last year. TV deal is dogshit. However this is the last year of that deal.
Where is the documentation stating they lost $$ last year? I’ve always wondered the financials of mlb teams.
Don’t buy that losing money garbage. They may not have hit their profit projections but until they open up the books for us to see the actual figures you can’t believe it.
Does it actually MATTER if they lost money?
If they invested untold millions of dollars and BROKE EVEN, is that something to write home about? Should they be happy about that and eager to invest still more millions? To do what? Try and compete payroll for payroll with the Cubs and Dodgers?
My 401K plan is up almost 12% this year. If the Brewers ownership had sold the baseball team and put all the money into my 401K, they’d have made more money in 2019 than they made by running a baseball team.
Does that hammer home the point for you? The point of being in business is to make money. The point of RISKING YOUR MONEY is to MAKE MORE MONEY.
If they’re not MAKING MONEY, they’re probably going to re-evaluate how they’re spending theirs.
Obviously well thought out points, but didn’t you just argue for both sides?
Marytown, one of the Brewers beat writers made a completely BS comment in one of columns that “on good authority” he was told that they lost $$ in 2019.
They’ve actually made a ton of $$$ the past couple of years.
NOT EXACTLY INSPIRING.
back of the end guy with injury history, but with some upside when healthy. I thought he was a perfect fit for Halos.
Except he’s not good when healthy. His BABIP was 30 points below his career mark in 2019 and his 4.6 K/9 is kindergarten quality. The Brewers faced him last summer and anemic Orlando Arcia got 2 hits off him. THE SIGNS SAY NO.
Back of the end guy? What he does off the field is none of our business.
I lol’d …Good one Werealljustvuestshere.
5pts for the comment, -1 for the user name..Like Anderson though, still a solid number 4
NEITHER WAS YOUR COMMENT.
probs a long reliever
Yeah what’s the plan here? Load up the bullpen with starters and Woodruff is the only guy we let go through the other team’s order more than twice? Everybody else piggybacks?
We already have Suter for the long relief guy. Sterns is obviously trying to get more lefty starters To limit the long balls down the RF line.
Considering Counsell doesn’t normally allow starters to more than 5 innings, or a 3rd time through the lineup, AND the nee 3 batter-minimum rule, it might make some sense to have 2 (or 3, potential) long relievers, even if they are both lefties.
I mean, IF they do decide to use him as a reliever.
Poor Yelich…
Wow, this team.”DoomedCrew”
why? Because we made a depth signing? Most likely a long relief mop up guy.
One thing I know about Stearns is he always has a plan. Its mid December only so relax.
Did I miss another signing? Because Brett Anderson is certainly in your rotation as of right now
Yeah, and as of right now, the brewers dont have a third or first basemen. you think that the roster if full set?
Well unless you think they’re spending 100 million on Bumgarner or signing Keuchel or Ryu; I don’t believe there’s much better than Brett Anderson out there. So relax buddy I’m not attacking you.
Exactly. Anderson is am excellent pitcher when healthy, and he was healthy last year. Its not as if its a long term deal. Great move really. Pitchers are getting PAID! Ryu was projected a modest payday, but i believe the demand for him will be enormous. Don’t be surprised if he clears 20 million a year for 3-4
I have to agree with jbig and Jay, this was a really good signing for the Brewers!!
I don’t understand what is with all the negativity and lack of appreciation for this signing from the Brewers fans on here.
Anderson is one of the most effective SPs left on the market, that isn’t going to break the bank. I wanted the Braves to sign him, rather than stretching out Newk to be their 5th starter.
He might not wow anyone, but when Anderson has been healthy, he has been an effective #3-#4 starter his entire career. Health can be a question mark, but that is why he is only going to cost the Brewers $5m-$7m..
For that amount of money, you certainly could not ask for more than Anderson is going to give you. He might not strike out alot of batters, so he is not the sexiest SP acquisition, but he induces weak contact and consistently gets the job done.
Excellent signing for the Brewers, and you fans should definitely be a little more excited. He is certainly better than the options you all had to fill out the rotation, and he is not going to hamstring the Brewers with a long, ridiculously priced deal!!
In terms of overall value, you would be hard pressed to find a better signing out there that is still available. Maybe Corey Dickerson as a hitter, or possibly Alex Wood as a pitcher, but Wood is a much bigger risk right now than Anderson..
Dont forget you guys are shopping Hader…
Come, you should build on what you have not dismantle it… and or add mediocre arms, you need more or have you forgotten how you couldn’t win it all with what you had?
Shopping Hader is to build. They’re looking for young MLB (or MLB ready) talent in return.
You might get a guy… 1 dude that will produce, man, you cant bet on what you dont have… you can although add to what you had that took you far, just sayn.
Makes me sense, your team needed some bullpen help, and maybe good arm for the rotation, maybe you got it, nevermind.
It’s bizarre how much some people will overvalue a piece like Hader.
Hader’s great. He’s also going to get expensive fast. And there’s a fair chance that he either breaks down or regresses under the workload he’s had for the past couple of years.
It’s great to have a shutdown bullpen weapon. It’s better to have a quality starter and a position player who are both young and have 6+ years of team control.
Yanks didn’t want to trade Chapman (as evidenced by them bringing him back) but they sure don’t mind Gleyber Torres, do they?
“Shopping” is a bit of a stretch. We basically heard they might ne willing to move him, for the right price. Then we heard the Yankees, dodgers and Mets were rumored to be interested…
And thats about it. No hourly updates regarding potential trade packages, or even ongoing conversations.
But somehow, they’re “activity shopping” him.
Yeah, when you are a team that is not ran with seemingly endless pockets, then you have to look at EVERY SINGLE AVENUE to find ways to better your overall roster.
Sometimes, that does mean trading away your best player Then again, sometimes you just want to put out feelers, and see what you might fetch in a trade..Ultimately, if some team is desperate enough, maybe they wow you and offer up a deal you cannot refuse. If not, you simply just keep said player, and you look for other ways to improve your team.
Everyone is always available, and the term untouchable does not exist. It is just a matter of whether another team will meet or exceed your demands or not. As a GM, if you are offered a great deal for Hader, and if that deal improves your outlook, you do it. Hader is a dominant relief pitcher, but he is not a starter, and he can only have so much of an impact. Not to mention, from year to year, relief pitchers are absurdly volatile, and you never know when they’re going to randomly stop being such a great weapon. Sometimes, especially when you operate with a moderate budget, you have to get rid of a prized player a year early, rather than risking getting rid of him a year too late.
Because we let really good players go and have signed mediocrity and wannabes. Why is that difficult to comprehend?
It’s intresting that his good years were all in an A’s uniform over two different stints.
Must’ve missed the year he had in LA with the Dodgers. He flopped the next season after taking the QO though.
Good point, I did miss that season.
The same can be said about Jed Lowrie.
The guy has been injured more than he has pitched. They should have reunited with Miley before pursuing this. Brewers starting rotation may end up being the worst in NL central by far.
Pirates will be worse, but your point remains valid.
The scary part is that Brett Anderson/Lindblom will probably be far better than Chacin/Peralta/Burnes combo. 1/5M for Anderson is well worth the risk. Even if he hits his performance bonuses 7M will be worth it.
$5M for Anderson is an overpay. Michael Wacha got $3M from the Mets. And he’s been injured a HECK of a lot less than Anderson.
This deal is going to be incentive laden just like Wacha. Take it easy skull and crossbones.
Wade Miley 2.0 – everyone hates it at first, by the ASB Brewers fans are like – OK, at the end of the season ‘We need to resign Anderson at ALL COSTS!’
Same type of signing. The crew play in a HR friendly paradise. A ground ball pitcher makes sense. Keuchel makes a lot of sense too. I imagine he’s still trying to make 50+ million bucks though.
My bad y’all, just dawned on me that Hader is gone and they need a stud to step in, Que, Anderson.
I see this guy closing no doors ever… XCEPT WHEN HE GETS BOUNCED… Nice upgrade,”HOPING” LOL, and or addition, gives the other clubs a shot. So nice of you guys.
Little early to be drunk
Local beat reporters are running interference for the front office. Tom Hadricourt claimed they lost money last year while citing 0 evidence. Trying to nickel and dime their way back to the playoffs is not fun to watch. They better sign Donaldson or somebody else who can hit cuz they ain’t winning the divison on the strength of this staff.
The TV deal only makes them 28 mil a year. They don’t have a ton of money.
They drew 2.8M fans. 2.8M times $100 bucks is nearly $280M in tickets, concession, parking alone. Factor in revenue sharing and tv deal and the brewers probably brought in $350M on a conservative side. Their payroll was $135M. How could they have “lost money”.
brewcrew08
well argued.
$100/person is a pretty high estimate for Milwaukee. Tickets are not that expensive and neither is parking and the concessions are run by Delaware North not the team so they get only a small cut of that. Even that said, you’re looking at only player salary as expenses? Don’t forget to take into account travel expenses, park upkeep, the salaries of all the behind the scenes employees, the unbelievable cost of park utilities, etc. Media money is where teams make their profits because there are minimal expenses tied to it and their media contract is the worst in sports.
Forbes figures it’s $111 per person but I’d say $100 is an easy math way to figure.
Have you factored in taxes into any of your calculations? You do realize that they’re paying taxes. On payroll, on income… that’s a pretty big haircut right off the top.
They’ve got the MLB salaries that you cited, but also the salaries for the entire rest of the organization. Scouts, travel, myriad insurance payments to go along with the cited TERRIBLE TV deal.
Regardless, as I said in another comment above, does it really make a difference if they broke even rather than losing? Or if they made a profit in the 1-3% of revenue range?
Dude, if you invested $135M in the stock market a year ago with any competence, you’d have turned a profit of around $15-22M on it. If these owners were “all about the money” like short-sighted fans constantly insist that they are, they’d sell their teams and pour the money into investments with MUCH better rates of return and none of the perception headaches of people who probably don’t own the car they drive whining about how “cheap” they are for not buying every high-end free agent without regard for financial sustainability.
That Forbes figure is that on all revenue including media rights that the Brewers make $111 per person in their metro area, or $111 “per fan”, not that they make $111 from every fan that attends a game.
Why 100 per fan?
I’d love to see their methodology because that puts the Brewers at second in the league in revenue per fan.
Average cost for four tickets, four drinks and four hot dogs is $121.45. That works out to $30.36 per person. Long way to go to get to $100.
I thought you would get the next step of the process though? Do you not get it? That is what they do with the proceeds that come in. They invest that money in the stock market, make a profit, then pay out what they need to pay out. It isnt as simple as they make x amount of dollars and spend y amount of dollars. They manipulate large amounts of money while they control it for short periods of time, take out the profit and then pay their bills.
Who the hell spends $100 to go to a baseball game in Milwaukee? Not unless you’re shooting back 5 brews and 4 brats.
Avg price of a ticket in mke (as stated in the forces article) is $26. Pretty sure you’re not getting a dog and drink for $4.36. When MA purchased the brewers he stated that if it were only about the $$ he would have stayed in the markets but his dream was always to own a baseball team and win a World Series. As a brewers homer I am much happier with MA and Stearns at the helm than I was with the old comish and captain kangaroo (Melvin). Stearns takes lemons and makes vodka lemonade.
Plus the $11+ million they spent in draft pick and international signing bonuses. Sure AAA guys only make about $80,000 per year, but 25 of those is $2 million more. Counsell makes $1.5 million…. The Brewers spent $60 million to improve Spring Training facility last year. Just some additional costs
Fan cost index for 2019 is $209.76. That’s 4 tickets, 2 small beers, 4 small sodas, 4 hot dogs, parking, 2 programs and 2 hats. That’s 23rd in MLB.
Haudricourt is more or less a PR guy for the team as opposed to a real journalist. He is always overly cautious in criticizing bad moves or policies
Before anyone gets all up in arms about this signing, remember that the Brewers are pretty good at getting the best out of players like Brett Anderson. See the likes of Wade Miley, Gio Gonzalez, etc. If he can stay healthy, I think this could be a good signing.
I think what is really hurting the Brewers right now is a lot of really good ball players that were fan favorites have gone elsewhere or non tendered and their cheap adds and trades are totally uninspiring in the face of those developments. This is not likely to change unless the Brewers bring in a couple ballplayers that are considered to be more than average.
‘That is hurting the Brewers’…. or a segment of their fans? I don’t see that any of the moves so far have hurt the Brewers.
Losing Moose, Grandal, Thames, Davies, Lyles ???? I would say that hurts the Brewers.
They KNEW Moose and Grandal were one-year things. Davies was decent. Lyles made 11 starts. Thames is replaceable. Heck, the Yankees pulled like 7 guys out of AAA that could replicate Thames numbers last year. Sign Greg Bird and wrap him in bubble wrap.
I don’t understand why people root for a small-market team and incessantly whine when they make moves like a small market team.
Like HALF the guys on the team last year were unearthed bargains. The Marlins traded 3 outfielders a couple of years ago, and the Brewers picked the best one. Seems like the front office does a pretty adequate job while living within ownerships’ means.
Pray for a better TV deal, take a deep breath, and just wait for the rest of the team to be put together. It’s mid-December. Bryce Harper didn’t sign until like March last year. The free agent market is still in full-swing, except for guys that you were NEVER gonna sign anyway.
OH NO!!! COLE AND RENDON ARE OFF THE BOARD!!!!!
You’re a MILWAUKEE BREWERS FAN!!! Why even CONCERN yourself with what those guys are doing? That’s like a Yankee fan getting mad because the Lakers signed LEBRON JAMES!!!
Ohhh, I bet LeBron could hit a curveball if STEINBRENNER WASN’T SO CHEAP!!!!
Please stop capitalizing that many words. Thank you.
Morons. Video game players that just see names coming and going. Do any of them think the Brewers should have exceeded the four years or $16 M per Moose got? Or the four years and $18.25 M Grandal got?
It was a better move to let them sign for those terms elsewhere.
He had a nice year last year. Hard to disagree with a one year deal.
I think what is really hurting the Brewers right now is a lot of really good ball players that were fan favorites have gone elsewhere or non tendered and their cheap adds and trades are totally uninspiring in the face of those developments. This is not likely to change unless the Brewers bring in a couple ballplauets that are considered to be more than average.
Do you just like to copy and paste the same comment?
Electronic issue, thought u might get that. My bad.
Nice little signing. Now if he wears 57 the Brewers save money on all those jerseys they thought they were going to send to good will. They now can put them back on the rack to be sold. I’m like every other fan that wants to see a big signing but I really like this one too .
The Brewers are pretty much getting players from Baseball’s version of Goodwill.
Just stop. Are you even a Brewers fan? All you’ve posted is how terrible this team is going to be based on losing a couple of overpaid “name” players. Stop overvaluing the players we lost and look at the calendar. Yelich, Cain, and even going back to Greinke weren’t picked up until January. Calm down.
I think the Brewers had a bunch of uniforms with that name already on them…
When Brett’s on, he’s a groundball/soft contact machine.. There’s nothing overpowering about Brett, and his fielding is really poor but assuming he stays healthy (that’s his Achilles heel, for sure) he’s a good pickup for MIL.
Call him a solid 3/4 starter when healthy who usually frustrates the hell out of hitters like most soft-contact guys do.
Brett Anderson was great with the A’s last year. He is talented, knows how to pitch and brings a sense of humor to guys in the dugout. He is just injury prone! And the A’s have a pretty talented young pitcher rotation right now. But, all those things aside, Brett will contribute. Good signing…
Present-day Brewers remind me of the 2014 Braves…enough MLB talent to compete for another year or two, but with a dried up farm system and financial constraints already causing contributors to walk…more tough decisions coming up for Milwaukee.
In the decade of complete rebuilds it goes to show how truly small a window teams can have for contention. I remember when the Cubs were set up for championship run(s) and now they’re about to move their rebuild’s postboy. Not but two years ago the Rockies and Brewers were hot young teams making moves…the Phillies and Reds each underwent lean years and have made win-now moves in recent offseasons yet still haven’t cracked the playoffs..if the Cubs rebuilt around hitters, the Braves invested most of their rebuild draft years in pitching, but have had to pay significant sums to/for the likes of Melancon, Greene, Smith, Hamels, O’Day, etc.
I guess the “Hope-selling” and “what-if’s” are what provides us fans the most entertainment because, in reality, its truly hard to win big and win consistently for a long period of time (I say that as if it’s some groundbreaking statement that everyone here doesn’t already know haha)
Total value sign. Can easily play past that contract! It’ll be weird not seeing him in oakland green!
I still see a lot of comments basically saying “they could have signed so-and-so, for less money than they got, but they didn’t even try.”
Look, if either Moose or Grandal really had a serious interest in coming back, dont you think they would have at least contacted Stearns and asked if he could come up with something comparable to what they got? Cuz it seems to me there was very little, if any hesitation by either of them to sign with the reds and social.
And just fluffing stop with the “brewers let a lot of good ballplayers/fan favorites go” nonsense. Besides the 2 above, the only one that really fits both categories is Thames. Shaw stunk. Chase Anderson stunk. Perez/Spangenberg/Saladino stunk. Nelson couldn’t come back from injury. Davies/Grisham got us a starting pitcher and ss back. We still have Gamel and Taylor for 4th and 5th OF’ers.
We didn’t lose much quality. Mainly overpriced, below average guys.
I agree with pretty much everything you said, but Grandal did say that he gave the Brewers a chance to match the White Sox offer. I think the Crew will sign some vets & will platoon at 3rd & 1st this year. They don’t need to replace Moose & Grandal with just 2 guys, if you can do it with a number of guys you end up with a deeper team as well.
$18 M for a catcher on one year is fine, but the Brewers can’t take the risk of four years at that money.
That’s their issue then. They lost one of MLBs best catchers.
If a four year deal for that money is too risky then the Brewers are doomed
You probably said the same thing when they traded Lucroy. “Should’ve signed him long term”. Imagine being saddled with Lucroy for $12m a year the last three years?
That kind of money for a catcher is too risky. For a player at another position, its not.
I was not aware of Grandal giving the brewers that chance. Thanks for the info.
With that said, it was the right decision to pass. 4/$73 is just too much risk for a 31 y/o catcher. Anyone who says otherwise probably just needs to be reminded of the Braun contract, and how insane they are that he doesn’t/can’t play 155 games a season at 35. Grandal as a catcher won’t be either, and the expert fans would lose their minds.
The Brewers will just give Brett Anderson Chase Anderson’s old uniforms, hats, and other stuff. They’re always looking for ways to save a buck.
Leave it to the brewers to save a couple bucks. They can buy one less set of letters by grabbing a guy named Anderson. They should give Kyle Davies a look.
I can see MIL bringing back Jimmy Nelson on a minor league deal with a guaranteed low AAV salary if he makes the Major League squad out of spring training.