The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed former Angels right-hander Justin Anderson to a two-year minor league deal with invites to Spring Training. Anderson is expected to miss most or all of the 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in July, so the two-year term of the minor league arrangement will give Texas the opportunity to help him rehab in-house this coming season with an eye toward contributing to the 2022 bullpen.
Anderson, 28, pitched in the Angels’ bullpen from 2018-19, logging 102 1/3 innings with a 4.75 ERA. He’s struggled in the big leagues due to a sky-high 15.7 percent walk rate, but Anderson’s fastball sat at 97.3 mph back in 2018 and he’s punched out 27.7 percent of opponents at the MLB level. The Rangers surely got plenty of close looks at him while he pitched for a division rival, and there’s little harm in taking a forward-looking flier on a potential power arm who could be controlled another four years once he’s added to the Major League roster.
While two-year minor league contracts aren’t exactly common, we’ve seen an increasing number of them in recent years. The Rangers inked Edinson Volquez to just this type of contract after he underwent Tommy John surgery with the Marlins late in the 2017 season.
Just what every team needs, another flamethrower who can’t throw strikes!
Is that a direct quote from the Angels after they acquired Nolan Ryan, the flamethrower who couldn’t throw strikes? Or are you just being a flippant wiseass?
Maybe he should have quoted a movie, and then create 10 burner accounts to tell everyone how funny and cute it is! Or maybe he should have posted a self-congratulatory “I’m not a racist” post. Everybody pat Xabial on the back!
He’s Xabial too? Damn Tom monty,
You know, I read once in a magazine that cats think in a British accent
Xabial how many accounts do you have?
Yes, every flamethrower who can’t throw strikes will turn into another Nolan Ryan! That’s being a flippant wiseass. Is there a way to turn off other wiseasses like you so I can have the category to myself?
Pirates are absolutely in love with players just like this.
Rangers29 what’s your take on this move?
Nice buy low. Dont rush him, Texas.
He’ll have at least an entire year to heal and rehab and be ready to go in 2022.
Likely, good help in 22, now let’s get Williams and Woods inked to supplement our starting staff and Archer on a minors deal. We also need further protection for Gallo and we really need to try and trade Andrus and simply cut Odor loose if he cannot be shipped somewhere.
Archer is getting a major league deal betting a million dollars on that
Jon Daniels has been great at making these “zero risk dart throw” deals over the years.
Exactly. The entire worth of the contract is probably the Rangers’ eating the medical costs, which are mostly covered by insurance anyway.
It’s a “why not” kind of move.
He throws gas! Good luck with Mr Anderson
Glad to see the Angels move on from him. He like many others on the staff need a change of scenery. Looking forward to seeing what Perry replaces them with.
He throws straight as an arrow gas that he has no idea where it’s going! Little harm in a minors deal, obviously, but this is one non-tender I don’t think the Angels will regret. His innings were painful to watch. Long, drawn-out with a lot of walks. And he has a knack for giving up inherited runs during big moments in the game (I know, I know, that’s hard to quantify).
Now the Rangers should re-sign Martin Perez. He can be one of their top 3 starters!