It’s been an offseason focused on stockpiling prospects and shedding payroll for the Pirates, but the club on Wednesday announced its first Major League free-agent signing of the winter. Left-hander Tyler Anderson has signed a one-year contract for the 2021 season, while Rule 5 righty Jose Soriano has been placed on the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Anderson, a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council, is reportedly guaranteed $2.5MM on the deal.
Anderson became a free agent when the Giants non-tendered him at the Dec. 2 deadline. The 31-year-old appeared in 13 of their games last season, started 11, and notched a 4.37 ERA in 59 2/3 innings. Those numbers look OK, but Anderson survived despite below-average strikeout, walk and groundball percentages of 15.8, 9.6 and 28.5, respectively. Anderson also only managed a 5.69 SIERA, which ranked next to last among 81 pitchers who amassed at least 50 innings in 2020.
Before he joined the Giants, Anderson spent 2016-19 as a member of the Rockies, with whom he largely posted acceptable production. Overall, Anderson has a 4.65 ERA/4.36 SIERA with a 21.0 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate across 456 2/3 innings. The former Oregon star and first-round pick has seen his time on the mound interrupted by a series of knee injuries, by Anderson’s elbow and shoulder have held up throughout his pro career.
Anderson should fill a rotation spot this year with the non-contending Pirates, who don’t have anything resembling a front-line starter at the moment after trading away both Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon this winter as part of their ongoing rebuild. Anderson will join Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl as the most experienced starters on the 40-man roster in Pittsburgh, while younger arms like Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, Wil Crowe and Miguel Yajure will vie for opportunities to prove themselves at the MLB level.
Any of Anderson, Brault or Kuhl could emerge as summer trade chips if they’re throwing well this year, and it’s still plausible that either Brault or Kuhl could be moved between now and Opening Day.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the agreement (via Twitter). Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the terms (Twitter link).
What a garbage organization
He had one 9 inning shutout and 4 other scoreless starts.
And that changes what about the pirates being trash?
As a Giant fan who had to suffer through all but one Tyler Anderson start, I’m sorry for you Pirate fans.
Why you sorry? They will probably fix him enough to be decent and trade him for prospects. Worst case scenario he is awful and helps them secure number 1 pick. It’s a win either way.
@yourdreamgm Pirates don’t fix anyone, they all do that after leaving. See: Glasnow, Tyler; Meadows, Austin; Cole, Gerrit
JA Happ would like a word.
Old pitching coach fixed Burnet Liriano Volquez numerous relievers. Current coach made significant changes and had great results with Musgrove Kuhl Brault and numerous relievers.
So what are you going to do now that I called out your stupidity? Apologize for your ignorance? Just pretend like it never happened and risk being called out about in the future? Or change your user name?
Lol what angry garbage you are
Lol. You are good sport. I don’t get angry but I am a huge hole so you better be right if you call me out on something. All good though.
Meadows needed a few tweaks. But Glasnow’s only problem was control. Pirates actually helped him before the trade. But the rays great results came from saying he Tyler, you have elite stuff, don’t worry so much about hitting spots and just let it fly. Cole was even easier. Gerrit, people with your 4 seamer don’t throw 2 seamers, so stop doing it. Pirates were on the forefront of things then just got passed up and left in the dust. New staff knows what they are doing. Pirates will have one of the best rotations and bull pens in baseball in a few years. Bull pen should be sneaky good this year. Rotation will be solid, just will be solid for other teams.
Why are people talking about fixing Glasnow? Yes he has amazing stuff and has had moments where be flexes it…. But a career ERA+ of 95 and only a 12 GS/60ip stretch where he was elite along with 250 innings of below average production? Or is it his total overall negative value in the playoffs?
Look the Pirates still lost that trade. But all this talk about “fixing” Glasnow or putting him in certain categories is ridiculous. In the postseason his win probability added is -0.65 (it’s only positive one series at 0.13) and championship win probability added is -16.9 with it taking a major hit this last season.
So how is he fixed or elite again ?
Liriano and burnett just stood up behind happ
Pete, clearly you didn’t watch all of starts. He was good for at least 5 starts as I pointed out. Please don’t talk as if you watched him. And 8man, pirates may be trash, my post was pointing out that Anderson is a good pickup.
Also helped that his pitching coach was crazy tall also like him
AJ Burnett became a stud with the Bucs
Meadows may or may not have been fixed. He never had any power at any level as a pro. He had a career start to 2019 for 1/3 of the season. Had a pretty rough 2nd 1/3 and righted himself for an ok last 3rd. Had an ugly 2020 but many players did in the short season. Still no idea what kind of a major leaguer he is. Glasnow has looked more like his Bucco days than his start with the Rays from the end of 2019 when he came back from a long injury lay-off and was decent In 2020 and had some ugly Pirate like games in the playoffs. His last 2 games were exactly what he did in Pittsburgh. Decent number of strike outs. Several walks and gives up several runs. Throws over 100 pitches and can’t make it past 5 innings. He is not fixed either.
Glasnow did go from a 4 something era reliever to under 2 era cy young contender starter. If you want to take 2020 into account then I guess Yelich Baez bryant etc are terrible as well.
Were you responding to me? Cause Glasnow was good for 60 innings a couple years ago. That’s it. I’m on your side. It’s not a Pirates curse. They have helped as many pitchers they hurt. If anything they help more. My main point is Glasnow is a below average pitcher until he proves he can do anything in the playoffs or for more than 60 innings (and that wasn’t in the short 2020, he was garbage in 2020).
I think that Gozurman’s point is that the jury is still out on both Glasnow and Meadows although at this point it is now official which team clearly won the trade.
Your trashing the pirates….. Crawl back down the basement you troll
Posters trash teams just to get responses. Ghost, you responded and so have I. it’s difficult to resist.
Claude,they are trolls,and do not have anything better to do than trash to get comments.You are right,they will go away if ignored.They cannot make intelligent nor knowledgeable comments so they show their lack of each to get reactions from people.
They are basically harmless unless provoked.
Well said .200 aka Mendoza line
10-4 Claude.With all due respect,though,I was a better hitter than .200.It is only a small way up to .215,and I enjoy the notoriety,even if negative but there’ are probably 10-15 players with batting averages lower than me but above .200 who deserve the “ honor”more than me.Hence my “screen name”!
You ,on the other hand,deserved your notoriety when you were happy to go home to your home country and province when the Expos were in their infant stage.Too bad about 1994 when they were the best team in baseball.The strike that year may have changed history.
Atlanta ran down San Fran in 1993 with similar records at the same point the 1994 season stopped. No reason not to think Atlanta could have made the Expos a Wild Card team in 1994.
The Expos had some good teams in the late 1970’s and contended against the Pirates in 1979 but their best team was in 1994.
The Braves,on the other hand,were bad in 1990 but obviously changed through the rest of the 1990’s and well into the 2000’s.
My point was that it was a make or break year for a franchise who was in first place and the strike ruined it and helped to end the City’s team.
It clearly was not such a critical year for the Braves.
They were the best team in 94.
sneaky deadline trade candidate
Is it really a major league deal if it’s with Pittsburgh?
PirAAAtes
More like PirAAtes anymore. They’re below BAAAltamore and the IndiAAAns or even ColorAAAdo
You’ll be better than Colorado. That franchise, my favorite, run by amateurs.
OUCH!
PirAtes
2.5 million dollars. Sure he doesn’t care who is writing the check.
Tyler should feel special getting that all to rare “Major League” deal
Watch out Cubs, 4th might not be that easy.
He will be the next Tommy Milone. Good year then traded to contender to the throw meatballs
Milone has been trash for years. Amazing how he keeps finding work.
Left handed. Thats literally the only thing he has going for him
8man, I’m gonna guess you work in waste management
More likely he works cleaning septic tanks
You’re probably correct Ghost. But every 8man post uses “trash” or “garbage”.
A vet to hold spot until one of the youngsters with talent is ready to go. This is the kind of guy you sign when in a rebuild. Get him some work, and hopefully a trade and bring a youngster like Priester or Bolton up later in the year after the potential trade.
More like a lefty to replace Brault. I don’t expect to see Priester, maybe Bolton. Will see lots of Crowe Ponce Yajure. Maybe Contreras.
Brault has been pretty good actually the last couple of years. Hoping he does well again this year and maybe get something pretty good for him at the deadline. I know that I am dreaming on Priester this year. Maybe Kranick though.
Brault and Kuhl would be gone already if anyone was willing to pay a fair price. If some team gets a need and they are healthy they are gone. And good, pirates are loaded with backend rotation talent and they only have 2 years left so bring in more prospects.
Priester is sounding really nice. Can’t wait to watch him whatever level he plays. Don’t expect it to be mlb this year. Malone should be a mid rotation guy, always hope for better. Pirates are looking good for 2023. No shortage of back end starters and relievers. Have half dozen kids that could be top end starters or closers just in the top 30, who knows what international guys emerge. Most will fail but only need to hit on 2 or 3. 2 or 3 more high draft picks coming. Pirates are looking good. Don’t know why people fill bad for them. I am a Rays and Cleveland Cheapskates fan as well so they can hold me over until 2023. Will mainly watch Milb when it comes back. Of course Vandy. I gotta decide if I want Lawlar or Leiter lol.
Giants should have brought him back as depth. They have Alex Wood as the one lefty starter and Webb/Beede in the 5 hole both aren’t what you would call good pitchers. The approach Farhan is taking to building the rotation is leaving me scratching my head.
Giants get a lot of love for staying reasonably respectable for the last few years, but they’re doing it mainly by guessing right on some veterans who have a little left in the tank, which with $1.99 buys you a cup of coffee.. Most of those guys will be long gone by the time they’re ready to be really good and invest all that money. Meanwhile, all they’re doing is costing themselves draft position and bonus pool money, and blocking young guys.
@seamaholic Respectable ?? The Giants just booked their 4th Consecutive below .500 losing season. And clearly, they are on their way to a 5Th consecutive Losing season
Organizationally, they’ve fostered a losing culture.. Respectable? Nothing respectable there , I mean even in a shortened 60 game season they couldn’t finish above .500. They’re terrible.Lol
@tonyG, your hate for the Giants permeates into every one of your posts. Many Giants fans, myself included, believe in Z’s approach to the rebuild and do appreciate the fact that they have played some respectable ball the last two seasons, regardless of their W/L record. They’re not terrible, you’re just trolling them, consistently. I bet we beat your super-stacked team almost 50% of the time this year……(and that your team will lose to the Dodgers 60-65% of the time).
@giantsphan12
“Many Giants fans, myself included, believe in Z’s approach to the rebuild and do appreciate the fact that they have played some respectable ball the last two seasons, regardless of their W/L record”
Since when did the win loss record in professional sports become optional in team evaluation in Frisco? Because in the real world that is ALL That Matters. What’s next? Do you wanna play the games and not keep score?
Booking 4 consecutive below .500 Losing seasons doesn’t equate to ‘Respectability”
Only SF Giants fans type such nonsense. @BBFevor is correct in his description of SF Giants fans when he described them as ‘Baseballs version of MAGA” . Giants fans don’t like facts or data. Losing record? They don’t care. They’ll still argue their team is good. Lose a game because they didn’t hit? they blame the umpire. It’s a ridiculous
Good call Tony. Some fans blame the umps for the entire existence of their team. 52 years and counting Tony?
He’s solid. Had a few really good starts in SF but a few really bad ones made his stats look bad.
Tyler Anderson seems to be the pitching version of Jay Bruce. You just don’t know what to expect from them week-to-week. I would put Robbie Ray in the same group. It’s a great landing spot for Anderson but he reminds me of another pitcher who pitched for the Twins in the 90’s by the name of Rich Robertson. In 1996 Robertson went 7-17 but led the AL with 3 shut outs and had a 114/116 K/BB on the season. And I owned Robertson in an AL-only that season.
This was the guy I hoped the Orioles would have signed. Instead they sign Harvey and Hernandez; go figure.
With this sign, Pirates are winning the division. Sign a power bat and we win the World Series
Wonder if Pedro Cerrano can still hit?? All we need is something to bring it all together!
His first Pirates start will be an impressive 6 IP 5 hits 2 runs 2 BB 5 K. His next outing will be a no decision 7 strong of 2 runs on 4 hits. However, in his next 6 starts, he’ll average 4.1 IP 7 hits 6 runs 2 BB 3K. He’ll be interviewed and be wearing a cap and say “i’m just not making pitches right now. I just have to keep grinding. Keep going on there and make pitches and keep my team in it. I need to command my fastball”. He will sound sullen while doing so. His next start eill be a nice rebound of 6.1 IP 3 hits 1 run 1 BB 6 K and Pirates announcers will laud him for his “nice response and character outing”.
The Penguins will be playing when baseball season opens and it will carry Pittsburgh sports fans through until Steelers training camp talk heats up. Owner Bob Nutttng has made the Pirates irrelevant.
True, but for me, true of all MLB.
Especially since the next NHL season will likely start in October again.
Another irrelevant pirate hater. Crap never ends with these idiots.
These guys are getting worked up over a simple troll.Trolls seem to be paid to try to razz on a team or player without any basis.They do not know anything except how to be negative.If you ignore them they eventually go away.
If you are a true Pirate fan you understand what Cherington is doing, something none of his predecessors did, build a consistent winner inspite of a cheap owner. Sure we will suck for a few years but at least we have hope. All the previous GMs did was reach mediocrity in order to keep their jobs. If you are not a Bucco fan just look at it as easy wins for your favorite team for the next few years, but don’t get too comfortable.
Highly unlikely the Pirates will repeat 3 straight playoff teams or a 98 win team, no matter how well Cherington might do.
Once the big money teams fully embraced analytics, the Pirates window closed forever.
Pirates will do both. 3 straight playoff years sure. If expanded playoffs are a thing then 5 straight years, 7 straight years lol. Yes to 98 wins. The pirates are going to have the best farm in the division and no 30 somethings locked up to big money contracts. Already have 3 impact prospects and will draft at least 2 more. And some of these 45 50 grade ones can easily turn into 55s 60s.
Expanded playoffs would be the best thing to happen to the Pirates. Finish at .500 or slightly above and your in!
Analytics will not be fully embraced enough for fans like you to ever be satisfied, and nor should it. There are still flaws. Evidence shown every October by the analytic darlings if you watch close enough. They continue to lose partly due to their own ignorance.
There is value in analytics and value in old school approaches. Bottom line, analytics does not properly paint a true picture nor can it measure certain intangibles. Embrace it all you want it will not necessarily translate into instant success.
Well well its the uninformed forwhomthebelltrolls. Another irrelevant idiot
I’ll play along…
Inform me.
You are nothing but a insignificant excuse for a sports fan. Someone who spews misinformation and tries to rattle the garbage can. With which you habitate. You do not merit my time of day
I see the insults, where is the information?
The hopelessness is making you angry.
It’s understandable.
Josh-I would say highly unlikely, if not impossible,to have the second best total regular season record in ALL of baseball for three years.
They could make the playoffs three years in succession again.
Please do not ask me if I think that they will win a WS any time soon.
Do not rule out a salary cap in the near future which will include a salary floor. The resulting revenue sharing is a wind fall of profit for all the owners. Just have to get it past the player’s agents.
I’d love to see it, but not holding my breath on that.
Jimbo-BC has no choice.They have been terrible for a year and a half.
The Pirates have previously tried to be decent enough to try for a wild card every year.That was the philosophy of ownership and management during most of the NH regime.Other teams have had that also.
The two previous gm’s before him we’re just clueless.
NH did have fire sales when he first started.The trades unfortunately brought back little help.Subsequent trades and pickups were usually good to very good and enabled the Pirate to be average with an average farm system.
BC is trying to make the farm system into one of the best.That is the only hope of the small market teams to continually be competitive.
Wow!! The Pirates almost doubled their payroll with this signing!
Guy gives up A LOT of dingers. This is probably a good place for him to rebuild some value, being in a pitcher’s park with a guranteed spot in the rotation (even if he struggles out of the gate).
Sweet! The Pirates now have their opening day starter and their ace of the staff!
At least now we can have a bobblehead night.
Anderson had some good games last year and he’s signing at a discount; he’s a leftie who showed he was healthy and can be productive.
Good sign for the Pirates.
Yes it was a nice signing. Seems the trolls on here will bash the pirates no matter what they do. Uninformed idiots
Some of these people have no clue that 2/3 of the league are in the same boat that the Pirates are in and they are not much better in terms of talent. About 1/3 of the teams can buy whatever free agents that they want and trade for who they want no matter their contract amount. The rest will build for a window and to some extent “go for it” and then maybe make a quick playoff appearance or even get lucky and make it to the Series but still lose then immediately blow it up like the Rays.
You call every fan “uninformed idiot” who expresses their disappointment with this organization. My guess you are Mr. Bob Nutting in a ill advised “ghost of the past Pirates”. Who else would discredit fans than Nutting himself? Welcome to MLBTR Bob! Hopefully your stay is better than your ski resorts!
What is so uninformed about the Pirates signing another backend starter to go with their 6 or 7 other backend starters. I just hope that he can eat some innings. ZIPS has him pegged for a 5.00 ERA, which sounds about right to me.
I am not a fan of soft tossing lefties, But I guess, you are since you’re so ‘informed’.
As a “informed” fan, this is just a low key signing with no expectations. Kind of like that whole Pirates lineup. As being a “informed” fan, I like to say that every fan has a right to being disappointed with the Pirates. With the “unknown” with both Steelers and Penguins, future winning in Pittsburgh seems dim at the moment. Crosby and Malkin are aging and the Penguins have no cap space to improve that roster. Steelers need to add the running game back into their game. Ben is not a Brady by any means. Juju will end up with another team next year. Offensive line needs a big over haul. To be honest, Penguins are the only hope for Pittsburgh fans. We all know Pirates will be the worst team in baseball. So, Pittsburgh fans, buckle up and enjoy the ride
All you pirate haters are just idiots. No im one who would love to see nutting go away. But its not going to happen. Some clowns say make MLB force him to sale. That will not happen. It will tale some big pocketed billionaire to knock his socks off. I dont see that happening
So until baseball fixes its problems. Live with it. Its not just the pirates. So you haters smd uninformed trolls just keep doing your bobblehead impersonations
Salary cap is the only answer to leveling the field!
In the case of the Pirates, salary floor.
Dam right
Typical reply from an irrelevant troll
I don’t expect brault to be here to start 2021. Steven has a few years of control, could bring in a mid range prospect and mostly off set tyler’s salary. (not counting for Stevens’ future salary)
Hopefully he does stay though.. but i say that with most pirates players who get traded heh.
Kuhl under team control thru 2022. Brault thru 2023. Keller and Brubaker thru 2025. Anderson only this year. Seems likely the Bucs would go with these 5 and maybe make a move at trade deadline if one of the kids are ready, say maybe Priester.