The Rangers announced Friday that they’ve claimed righty Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Twins and designated fellow right-hander Tyson Miller for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
The waiver claim brings a quick Twins tenure for Anderson to a close and shines a spotlight on a now-regrettable swap that saw Minnesota send outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. to San Francisco in exchange for Anderson over the winter. At the time, the Twins looked to be dealing from a position of depth and taking a shot on a reliever with a tantalizing slider, but the Twins have been beset by outfield injuries this season and gotten nothing from their end of that exchange. Wade, meanwhile, has batted .257/.350/.443 in an admittedly small sample of 81 plate appearances for the Giants while missing some time with an oblique injury.
Anderson, 26, has been clobbered for 12 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits and five walks with eight punchouts in 8 2/3 innings out of the Twins’ bullpen so far in 2021. A quadriceps strain and a blister issue on his pitching hand have limited him to just four big league appearances and five outings in Triple-A. He’s been sharp in the minors, firing six scoreless innings with five punchouts and three walks.
The Rangers will be the fourth organization for Anderson, originally a third-round selection of the Red Sox back in 2016. He went from Boston to San Francisco via the Eduardo Nunez trade and had a rough showing, mostly out of the rotation, in 2019 before a more intriguing 2020 performance. Anderson tossed 15 2/3 frames last year and fanned 27 percent of his opponents while recording a gaudy 39.7 percent whiff rate on his slider.
The Twins surely hoped they’d be able to pass Anderson through waivers based on his injuries and rough showing in the big leagues so far. Doing so would’ve allowed them to keep him in Triple-A while reallocating his 40-man spot. Had Minnesota not been hit so hard by the injury bug this season, perhaps the club would’ve been able to avoid trying to pass Anderson through waivers at all, but the loss of the right-hander is yet another ramification of the team’s injuries and generally poor showing in 2021.
As for the 25-year-old Miller, he only joined the Rangers a couple weeks back via a waiver claim out of the Cubs organization. The 2016 fourth-rounder at one point was considered to be one of the better arms in a thin Cubs minor league system, but he’s limped to a 7.26 ERA in 57 Triple-A frames between 2019 and 2021.
Miller made two appearances for the Cubs last year, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks without a strikeout in five innings against the Cardinals. Miller has multiple minor league options remaining, so he could pique the interest of another pitching-hungry club. Texas has a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
I remember people saying the Giants were trading him for “nothing” and yet here is LaMonte Wade Jr producing for them and Shaun Anderson being left for the waiver wire… in Z we trust
The Giants position players are built exactly the way Farhan built the Dodgers. Many guys who can play multiple positions and hit for power. Love it
Man, Zaidi “stole” three prospects from the Twins in the Dyson trade. Then, he turns Anderson into Wade, and the Twins DFA Anderson.
The Twins should probably block any number from the Bay Area.
lol maybe they can do it after they give us Taylor Rogers
It’s still a crap shoot. A little investigative scouting, a little analytics, a little scouting etc. Crap shoot.
Minnesota no dumber than Frisco.
Long ways to go before SF catches up to Nathan and Liriano for Pierzynski.
Twins front office has been terrible lately. Baddoo and Lamonte Wade gone for nothing.
And odds are both would be playing everyday for the Twins right now if they kept them.
i wouldnt say so for Baddoo. he was coming off of a Mauor injury and i don’t believe was even at the alt site last year.
Depending on the numbers i could see the Twins playing Baddoo over Celestino. This season for the Twins has harkened back to the bad old days of 2012/’13 when the likes of Darin Mastroianni, Erik Komatsu, and Matt Carson were patrolling the OF
I don’t think Wade’s line speaks to just how valuable he’s been to the Giants; an injury replacement essentially playing out of position at first where he was more than capable replacing Belt and now moved back to the outfield to replace Dickerson and Ruf. Things could have really gone south for the Giants with those injuries but he is a big reason why it didn’t.
Wade’s primary position in college was 1B so he’s not playing “out of position.” He did play in the OF in college too but the Twins were the ones who made him an OF on a more permanent basis.
LaMonte Wade Jr has been great. His .350 OBP is the real deal; he works an at bat and waits for good pitches. His defense has been adequate; he made a bad error a few days ago but other than that it’s just fine, certainly better than having Ruf or Dickerson in left field.
I think Anderson should be fine, just needs a team he can get back to being himself. At one time he was thought to be the future closer for the Giants and I could still see him handling high leverage situations.