NOVEMBER 29: The Tigers have finalized an agreement with Anderson on a one-year deal that guarantees him $700K (h/t to Ji-heon Bae). He’ll receive a $100K signing bonus on top of a $600K salary, and the deal contains $300K in potential incentives. Anderson is represented by Wasserman.
NOVEMBER 26: The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization are in talks with free agent right-hander Shaun Anderson, according to Ji-heon Bae of Sports Chunchu (hat tip to MyKBO.net’s Dan Kurtz).
The 28-year-old Anderson has pitched in the last four Major League seasons, though his participation in the 2022 campaign was limited to a single inning of work with the Blue Jays. The remainder of Anderson’s year was spent at Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a 3.58 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 88 innings. Anderson started 15 of 36 appearances, though some of those “starts” were as an opener.
Originally a third-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2016 draft, Anderson has bounced around quite a bit during his pro career, and he has already pitched for five different teams over his four MLB seasons. After spending the 2019-20 seasons with the Giants, Anderson took the mound for the Twins, Orioles, and Padres in 2021, before his one-game cup of coffee with Toronto last year. The right-hander was also briefly part of the Rangers organization for some of the 2021 campaign.
Anderson hasn’t had much success at the MLB level, posting a 5.84 ERA over 135 2/3 career innings. He has a more solid track record in the minors (3.72 ERA in 416 2/3 frames) but he has never been a big strikeout pitcher, and Anderson’s grounder rates have also tailed off after topping the 50% threshold earlier in his career.
Multi-inning relief work might have been Anderson’s best way of finding a niche to stay on a big league roster, but he’ll now head to South Korea to try and revive his fortunes as a starting pitcher. Former Major Leaguers Thomas Pannone and Sean Nolin pitched with the Kia Tigers in 2022, but Bae writes that the Tigers might not retain either hurler as they look to overhaul their rotation.
Every member of the team and staff drives a complimentary Kia of course.
A million dollars for a 28 year who is a AAA player is a great deal with or without the auto. I have a 1996 Ford Ranger XLT 4×4 with 185k miles so any new car sounds good.
Can’t argue with that Manny!!
If it doesn’t go well in this country, at least he’ll be with South Kia…
Better than North Kia…
Preston Tucker just missed hitting the Kia parked in the RF grandstand in 2020!
He hit the f ing bull. Guy gets a free steak. You having fun yet?
Thin ribeyes from Costco make the ultimate steak sammiches!
I don’t remember asking
Take it from a Jays fan: Anderson is useless in MLB. If he can do better in the KBO, I wish him well.
Anderson would be a downgrade from Pannone or Nolin so it’s more likely in my eyes that Pannone/Nolin are getting NPB interest at more money than Kia wanted to pay.
That’s what I was thinking. They were doing pretty good. To get rid of them to bolster their staff would be anti to said objective.
Pannone going to the Brewers is interesting albeit on a minor league deal
Thankfully, One less pitcher Anderson on the mlb fantasy depth chart
Maybe I am mistaken, but aren’t KBO salaries non-guaranteed? Meaning he has a $600k salary but if he’s released he doesn’t get paid out. Only the $300k is guaranteed.
That was always one of the major downsides I heard from professional athletes in Korea when I was there.