12:10pm: Anderson will make a salary of $2MM if he makes the team, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
10:30am: The Mariners have infielder/outfielder Brian Anderson and right-hander Trevor Kelley in camp and are signing them to minor league deals, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Anderson is repped by CAA Sports and Kelley by C.L. Rocks Corporation.
Anderson, 31 in May, was once a solid regular in the big leagues but is coming off three straight frustrating seasons, with injuries playing a role. He signed with the Brewers last year after being non-tendered by the Marlins. He got into 96 games for Milwaukee but hit just .226/.310/.368 for a wRC+ of 85. He also spent a few weeks on the injured list due to a lower back strain. The Brewers released him in October.
It was a fairly similar story when Anderson was with the Marlins in 2021 and 2022. He went on the IL due to oblique, shoulder and back issues and hit .233/.321/.359 for a 90 wRC+ over those two years, leading the Fish to cut him loose.
But he had a good three-year run prior to that. He got into 341 games for the Marlins over those three campaigns, one of which was shortened by the pandemic. He hit .266/.350/.436 in that time, drawing walks at a 9% clip while striking out at a reasonable rate of 21.8%. That production translated to a 115 wRC+, indicating he was 15% better than league average in that time. He also spent significant time at both third base and right field, in addition to brief looks at first and second base.
His defense has generally been graded well, as his work at the hot corner has produced two Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average. His right field work is more split as DRS has him at +8 and OAA at -10, but his arm strength is considered elite, with Statcast having him in 98th percentile of qualified players last year.
The M’s currently have some uncertainty at both third and the outfield corners. At the hot corner, they are set to have a platoon of Luis Urías and Josh Rojas, both of whom are coming off down years. In the outfield, they are set to have Julio Rodríguez and Mitch Haniger in two spots, with Luke Raley, Taylor Trammell, Cade Marlowe and Dominic Canzone in the mix for playing time as well.
Anderson will give them depth at both spots and perhaps a platoon role would be possible at first glance, though maybe not so much after digging deeper. He hits from the right side while each of Rojas, Raley, Trammell, Marlowe and Canzone are lefties. However, Anderson has reverse splits for his career, having hit .258/.344/.413 against righties for a 108 wRC+ but .231/.312/.375 against southpaws for a wRC+ of 89. Regardless of the eventual playing time fit, he bolsters the depth chart at two positions where Seattle has questions.
Kelley, 31, spent last year with the Rays but didn’t have much success. He posted a 5.87 earned run average in 15 1/3 innings at the big league level and a an ERA of 5.23 in Triple-A. He was outrighted off the roster in September. He’s now thrown 50 2/3 innings in the majors overall, also spending time with the Red Sox, Phillies and Brewers, but with a career ERA of 6.75.
Though he struggled in the minors last year, he has impressed on the farm before. Even with last year’s poor results, his Triple-A is 2.38 in 197 innings spanning five different seasons. He has struck out 24.4% of batters faced at that level while walking only 8.5%.
The Mariners have a pretty strong bullpen at the moment but injuries are inevitable in a long season. Kelley will be jockeying for a role alongside other experienced NRIs like Heath Hembree, Ty Buttrey, Kirby Snead and others. If he’s added to the roster at any point, he’s out of options.
POT BOILERS. Nothing very important here. Just more tinkering at low levels like we have been seeing regularly from the Mariners.
Of course they might fill a higher need, but don’t count on it.
Brian “LaStella” Anderson…
They are not going into the season relying on him unless someone is hurt. I suspect spring training depth but hes good enough defensively non zero he makes the team as a 4th OF
Even if someone is hurt I doubt he would be a starter either
Don’t bother explaining; they’re a renowned troll around here
I agree spring depth, maybe at 3rd.
Depth is important. If the Haniger/ Raley experiment fails or someone gets hurt they are in trouble. I doubt their done looking for outfield depth either. I’m sure they want better options but this is a decent step toward addressing those concerns. There’s also concerns the defense will be an issue so gives them another option for a defensive sub although my guess is that this is more of a temporary depth option unless somehting unexpected happens this spring.
Fred- ca va! Imo this move is not that. Okay right now yes he is projected as depth but the Mariners have tried to get this guy when he was a very solid 3B for MIA.
Ask yourself this- how many contracts of $2M per yr do the M’s hand out to depth pieces? No….this guy is younger than Haniger and J Polanco. He’s only about a year older than JP Crawford and Ty France. This is not an AJ Pollock or Tommy La Stella signing of guys who are washed up.
If this guy can get healthy, if he can get in the right headspace….which I’d imagine is made easier being around a team that will be competing for the Playoffs and the Division. This could be a really savvy move (again) by the FO. Why? The INF defense is going to be noticeably bad this year. Geno was one of the top 3B in the AL last yr. Caballero was one of the best INF gloves in MLB. Ty France and JP’s glovework has marginally declined. Frankly if you look at how Chapmans Defense has steadily declined Brian Anderson actually has the potential to have a better season than Matt Chapman…..for pennies on the dollar.
Lol not only am I an idiot that posted before looking up or fully reading the article, I manage to delete my post editing it. I think I need to lay off posting today.
To be clear we need 3B depth as bad as OF depth. Maybe he does make it on filling two needs in one roster spot. Ill leave commentary to people who know what they’re talking about
Anderson has had some good years. He’ll be nice depth. Is this the unofficial end of Taylor Trammell in Seattle? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded.
Since he’s out of options, I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s simply DFA. Someone would claim him, I imagine.
Maybe so, but better to trade him for someone than just cut him loose.
I guess I’m just not sure any teams will jump on an out of options 4th/5th OF instead of just seeing if he goes to waivers. I don’t think he’s enough of a difference maker to good teams, and bad teams don’t really have an incentive to give something up for him. But I could be wrong and I hope you’re right.
Padres need Outfielders and are at least somewhat familiar with Trammell having acquired him from the Reds in the three team Trevor Bauer trade in 2019 and trading him to Seattle a year later
Good point. I guess I hope that maybe they could get a low level pitcher they might turn into something of value.
I hope the same!!
TT has been at Driveline, apparently the dude looks like a linebacker, or DK Metcalf’s baby brother! He looks ripped.
Why trade Trammell when he is currently at his absolute lowest trade value? It very well could be the end of Trammell but imo he is more valuable to the Ms if he can get close to meeting some of those lofty projections from early on in his MiLB career. You’d be lucky to get Cooper Hummel for him!
ayrb- He is out of options. Since I think he would have to mash in spring training to get the M’s to carry him on the 26 man to begin the year, I expect he’s traded or DFA.
Why trade him? Because he won’t make the opening day roster.
Trade? not likely unless he’s in a package deal. I would hope they don’t DFA him he has some yet unrealized value not unlike many of these DFA, players who could possible have a rebound. This Anderson is exactly one of them who is not a Bellinger but possibly a poor mans Bellinger. Can we hope.
If he’s hitting or showing power in training camp the Mariners will get something for him, even if its only a lottery ticket. He’s out of options which makes things complicated for the Mariners because while Marlowe and Canzone can be optioned Dylan Moore, Sam Haggerty, Josh Rojas all can’t Luis Urias so there will be a numbers crunch in camp
I remember for years both the Mariners and The giants as two teams that would load up on free agent pitchers. early Mostly minor league deals with spring invites. Good for the player as they know they have a job; and for the organization; I use the analogy of 50% off meat that you pick up at the grocery store and throw in freezer. Down the road you find yourself dead broke but having steak from the freezer. Injuries occur and you can go to the freezer and pull up a gem when your in a jam,
50% off meat can not be counted on to ever be a “gem”, now or later.
Just say no to bargain beef !
I learned this lesson the hard way…
Bad tube steaks? hey.
No such thing as a bad minor league signing– well, this is a good one. I wouldn’t be shocked if we end seeing Anderson take some PA for the Mariners given 3B and OF corners have some uncertainty and injury risk.
myaccount2
No such thing as a bad minor league signing–
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Are you sure about that? Any time that the RS pick up some minor league depth, there are a few hundred negative comments.
Past that, I wish the RS had picked him up. Righty and back up 3B & RF? Sounds good to me. He isn’t that far removed from being a real player.
Kudos to the Mariners.
I’m with you on that Joe. There are always inevitable “dumpster diving” comments as if 90+% of every team’s transactions aren’t minor! Yep, I like this signing for the M’s. We badly needed some depth at those positions.
What is an RS?
Redsox
C’mon.
6 letters, rhymes with dead fox…
MyAccount- this is a really savvy signing. He has a ceiling to at least match Chapmans declining bat and glove skills for MUCH less money. In fact he’s almost the exact same age as him. Chapman is younger by a couple weeks.
They can’t add Anderson to the active roster without one of Rojas/Urías/Canzone getting optioned, traded, or hitting the IL (Haniger’s in that camp as well). Haggerty is already very likely ticketed for Tacoma.
But yeah, there’s no risk here. He might have an opt-out following spring (I’d be surprised if he doesn’t), but I’m really curious what inspired this deal. Is someone’s health or defense more questionable than we know?
It’s kind of an odd contract if they don’t have any real questions or concerns, especially with Haggerty already looking like their immediate depth.
I don’t think there are any more health questions than the ones we already knew about– Urias is not healthy and Haniger is always a concern– but I think there are a lot of performance question marks. I’ve long thought another depth signing (of the MiLB variety) was needed at 3B and corner OF. This covers both. Even if Anderson has an opt out, it can’t hurt to see how he looks in spring and how guys such as Canzone look because I don’t think he should be guaranteed a roster spot.
He looked awful last year both at the plate and in the field. I saw him make dumb errors on back to back plays vs. the cubs last year. Hope he re finds his form because he used to be decent.
Was his defense bad? He has a good reputation on that front. Im not claiming to actually know but feel that would be his main purpose of they utilized him
Anderson got off to a pretty good start in Milwaukee last season hitting more than half of his Home Runs and driving in half of his runs in April, Unfortunately it was all downhill from there…
Would rather have prime Barry Bonds.
Great insight. Even rookie Bonds would work for me. I am not being greedy here. We just need a time machine. I bet the promise of 2024 level salaries would do the trick. Just gotta keep him off the juice.
Since we’re going there I’d rather have Ty Cobb. The guy had a lifetime .361 BA, was a gap to gap machine, a (literal) terror on the bases and hit over .400 in 3 different seasons. THATS who this Mariners team needs
Makes sense we could use a .400 hitter. Also why not make brawling and injuring opposing defenders the new market inefficiency
Scratch that, better not give the Astros any ideas.