The Pirates have signed Chase Anderson to a minors contract, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (X link). The veteran right-hander will receive an invitation to Pittsburgh’s big league Spring Training camp.
Anderson pitched for three different organizations in 2023, beginning when he signed a minor league deal with the Reds last offseason. Cincinnati traded Anderson to Tampa in May before he could enact an out clause in his contract (since hadn’t yet been placed on the active roster), and Anderson made two relief appearances for the Rays before he was designated for assignment and then claimed off waivers by the pitching-needy Rockies.
The result was a 5.42 ERA over 86 1/3 innings in 2023, with all but five of those frames coming in a Rox uniform for the right-hander. Anderson didn’t provide much in the way of results for Colorado and he missed around six weeks due to shoulder inflammation, but he at least ate some innings for a Rockies team desperate to find any healthy starters for any period of time.
The Pirates’ pitching situation isn’t as dire as Colorado’s, yet the Bucs are heading into 2024 with a lot of questions in their rotation. Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales were acquired as bounce-back candidates, joining Mitch Keller and a host of younger and more unproven rotation candidates. Rumors continue to swirl that Pittsburgh might yet bolster its rotation with a more higher-profile starter, but adding a veteran depth starter like Anderson is standard operation procedure for any team heading into Spring Training.
As he enters his age-36 season, Anderson is getting further and further away from his prime years with the Diamondbacks and Brewers. Anderson posted a solid 3.94 ERA over 857 innings (starting 160 of 166 games) from 2014-19, but the last four years have been a major struggle. Since the start of the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Anderson has only a 6.19 ERA in 192 innings for five different teams at the Major League level. Should he appear in a big league game with his new team, the Pirates will be the eighth different club of Anderson’s 11 MLB seasons.
Come on Bucs get a SP and another OF bat
It doesn’t seem likely that good and young free agents want a one year deal with the Bucs, especially at rock bottom prices
Saw Cherington’s interview in The Trib, where he alludes to the refusal to sign Trevor Bauer when he talks about “good clubhouse presence”
Meanwhile, the clubhouse now has Chapman and Grandal, two guys who have been known to be clubhouse cancers
I mean, Bauer’s people reached out to the Pirates. If anyone was going to be on best behavior, it’d be him
But instead, this is the kind of signing completed and then talks about playoffs
I can’t remember an off season that was more of a train wreck
agreed. Pirates PR is pretty bad in general. If they wanted good PR they would have signed Josh Harrison as infield depth and Hired batman and russ as coaches.
Really, i think the season would be more fun than getting Martin, Marco, Grandal and Capman. maybe not better but you have some good PR and likely more up beat clubhouse and the young guys can just play.
To be fair…. I would’ve complained that they didn’t make any big moves then as well but i’m also complaining about that now.
Yeah, It makes no sense to me that a team with already bad PR does not offer Trevor a long term contract with lots of team protections in it.
I’ve watched a couple fairly recent interviews the past month or so. Trevor seems more balanced now.. is it an act.. i don’t’ know but if the act continues and keeps his nose clean… ..
Bauer needs to file a lawsuit. This is absurd. The guy is guilty of nothing.
I’d rather take Clevinger! Some of the things I read about Bauer are just cringeworthy! Yes he’s a good pitcher but sounds like an absolute terrible person!
I think Clevinger would be a risk but why not?
Look, it’s not that I’m a huge Bauer fan, but discount anything he’s done in the past and remember, the guy wants to be back in MLB. Can’t imagine how he wouldn’t be the ultimate teammate
And what would be his grounds to file a lawsuit? No team has been dumb enough to publicly say why he won’t be hired. He has thousands of job options. I heard nobody wants to work anymore, he should apply to those places.
Try discrimination as a basis for a lawsuit
Teams aren’t interested in him because of the bogus sexual assault charges he faced and has been cleared of. That’s discrimination
Good luck proving that. That may be the case but there’s been no teams saying that outright. It’s just assumed.
Thats why I wrote “No team has been dumb enough to publicly say why he won’t be hired.”
Keep up.
That’s not only why teams aren’t interested in him. Hes a horrible person an openly admits it! Look it up because I wanted the Pirates to sign him also.
Throw it up on the wall and see whatever sticks. Why not?
Yes, why not? Every team does it. Several stick around the league every season and you never know which ones do.
Dude was solid 2014-2019. Worth a look, I guess. Between Priester, Ortiz, Contreras, Falter, Fleming, Anderson, Honeywell and a few others I’m forgetting now, they should be able to find two who can hold down the fort until Skenes and Jones come up.
Burrows too
Good chance that both Burrows and Brubaker won’t be able to pitch until July or August
Until then it will be a rotation of whoever is available, including bullpen starters like last year
Someone has to fill the roster spots at Triple-A.
Pirates sure like the brewers leftovers
He’s played for 6 other teams not just the Brewers or did you just read the article and not look at his numbers?
If are only worried about profit and not winning, this is what you get the young players will grow and leave as soon as they can and they will draft young and sign rejects. This is the Nutting way. Bottom Line Bob knows what lines his family’s pockets.
Mario, are you related to Sidney Lemieux?
Funny, every single team makes the same type of signing guys like this. Only bad if it is the Pirates do it?
“Fans” on this page tend to overreact to every move.
you’re right, every team makes the same type of signing guys like this, but the Bucs turn it into an art form
BC said he was going to sign or trade for another SP and an Outfielder
First base could be problematic if Rowdy doesn’t return to 2022 form and Connor Joe’s defense at first base will make fans wish for Santana again
Point being, he can sign over the hill players to minor league contracts until he’s blue in the face, but there are too many holes yet to be filled before the season starts
I love when the true believer types take issue with fans who’ve seen this act for years. The Pirates have one legitimate starter. They have two guys they used last season who are the proverbial “box of chocolates”. You have two guys they’ve brought in who likely won’t even be as “good” as Rich Hill
They’ve declined to go after Bauer
They spent $10M on another closer, which adds to one of the best closers in MLB on the staff of a team that likely won’t win 80 games
They bring in a retread catcher who is not known for defense but is known for attitude while an overall number 1 pick (Davis) was given 2 innings behind the plate all last season and will likely start the season at Indy
You’re right. We should just celebrate the positives here. They have a core that they seem reluctant to build around, a manager who employs the “mystery moves” style, ridiculously poor player development and scouting departments, and a GM who appears out of his element here
But hey, why complain?
Pirates have never been big in the free agency market. I don’t see that changing. Especially when at least one player publicly signed somewhere else for less. I personally want to see better players added somehow. My overreacting comment was about the way some of these jokers react to every minor league free agent or waiver claim.
Considering that Cherington went back on his word regarding starting pitchers and instead signs over the hill AAA relievers, yesh, count me as one of those people you’re referring to
Oh I’m sorry, Grump. I wasn’t responding specifically to you
I understand fandom but when it means swallowing what comes out of the marketing department, that’s where I have to draw the line
I agree. They’re never gonna spend They never have. Not the issue for me. Signing second tier players—especially starting pitchers—made sense this year. Instead, they’ve gone back to the bargain basement
You had a nice run to the end of the season and instead of augmenting slightly, you’ve asked Shelton to do another magic act with his pitchers
And the Davis story is ridiculous. Either they reached too high in drafting the kid or failed miserably in developing him
You could say that they’ve never been big in free agency until they signed Chapman for $10.5 million dollars
Point being that belief can now be shelved. Obviously they have the capability and the money
That signing was met with a belief that they were going to trade Bednar. I think you’d have to do serious research to find an in their prime free agent that has signed with the pirates. Not just this ownership group and GM. Liriano is the closest I can think of. Hopefully I’m wrong, but that seems to have been the case, I’d say all my life, but I’m older than MLB free agency.
The different is most of these other teams have legit starting pitching, the pirates do not.
you are kidding right? this signing puts the pirates in contention for the world cup!
few things though: this is a typical type of signing for many teams trying to find a diamond in the rough. If it was a Majors deal you would have an almost valid complaint.
Few of the profits head back to the owners. Pirates are a huge asset for sure but Bob is a pretty good business man and that is a big reason why the team is profitable again. If you recall they were seriously in the red when the Nuttings bailed out the team 20sum years ago that eventually lead to Bob becoming the chairman.
Where do the profits go then, because the Pirates don’t spend all the national TV money they receive, let alone local broadcast dollars, revenue sharing money, ticket sales, merch, etc.
i’m sure they don’t “spend it all” and obviously what they do spend doesn’t all go on the field to MLB players. We don’t know the details since they’re not required to open the books but what we do know is that the information we do have doesn’t really suggest that Bob and the owners are ‘lining’ their pockets with profit. I’m sure they’re not starving either.
after the local broadcast collapse the sharing i’m sure took a hit but still probably close to 90-100m between Local and National broadcast sharing. That alone probably pays for most of the player and coaching staff salaries from the MLB down through the minors. Keeping in mind minimum player salaries have also increased from MLB down through the minors.
Then you bring in the licensing, ticket sales and the non-shared local broadcast revenue, that pays for the rest of the costs for running a franchise and taxes.
Like we said, Bob is a business man and as the chairman he is not going to let the team run in the red again. He might if it is a legit world series contender for a year or three. If the owners are smart they’re probably saving up some of the profits every year so they can spend more when that opportunity appears
The team is profitable because they don’t spend money to be competitive year after year and when its realized that they won’t be competitive again they return to their original position of perpetual rebuild mode
Unfortunately I think this is the way the Pirates have to do it. I know Nutting is a billionaire, is one of the richest owners in baseball and owning a professional sports franchise should be different, but the bottom line is they want a return on their investment. They see it as a business which I’m sure most owners do. I mean if I owned the pirates and put that much money into buying them I would want a return too. He didn’t get rich by spending just to spend. Now I would make every attempt to balance the two side as much as possible; but who truly knows? Unless we had access to their financials, which I don’t think but don’t really know if they’re public. Plus if they truly were making out like bandits sts, I think other owners who are contributing into revenue sharing (along with mlbpa) would be complaining much more. I’ve never ran a sports franchise, but I assume it costs a lot more than what ppl think. I mean who pays the doctors, trainers, health insurance, spring training facilities, field up keep, travel, hotels, catering, etc. Much more than just payroll and I’m sure it adds up quickly.
I’m actually fine with them not spending until they’re in contention, of course as long as they do when they are. As long as there’s no salary cap, I feel this is what we can expect
Just a clarification, Nutting is not even close to one of the richest owners in baseball. as of 2021. There is an article about it on MLB:TR. I would reference but last time i linked it didn’t work. search “Owners Net Worth” here and it should come up.
Its interesting to look at. Fisher’s A’s is twice as much as Nutting but Castellini’s Reds is half as much as Nutting.
This is a good move. Let’s see what happens.
+0.7 war in 17 starts with a record of 1-6. How? Seventeen starts and one win and positive war. Who did his agent pay?
What I learned from this article was that apparently Chase Anderson had prime years.
My man is trying hard to get to that 10yr service time, good for him!
But man that 2021yr in Philly……Still wish him well.
This signing could have big repercussions. In Altoona.
If some team throws you a bone, I guess you grab it. Only thing that I can think is he’s auditioning for a coaching job.
Mike Clevinger, Domingo German, and Michael Taylor and let’s call it a offseason! This guy is just a spring training arm and will be gone in April!
No I don’t think the Pirates are going to sign those guys but they should because our rotation is terrible!
I believe they really are trying to pry one of the Marlins starters for one of the middle infielders here. Whether that happens or not, who knows?
I’m betting that if the talks stall, they’ll go after a guy like Clevinger or Syndergaard
But I’d rather have Urias than German.
But where the Pirates are concerned, think lower
I realize that this is just a minor league signing,and BC does reasonably well with these.
Some of the others I think show more promise so he may just need pitchers for ST.
The problem is that he has run out of time on getting a bona fide starter to get a good look for a new organization during all of spring training.Last minute deals take away from that comfort zone.
My guess is that few pitchers want to come to Pittsburgh even with somewhat of an overpay unless they have no other option.
Bauer should certainly be signed for a year at a decent salary.
But that would take someone in this organization to think outside of the box.
I’m at a loss as to their thinking here. Yeah, Bauer, Urias and German have baggage, one way or the other
But tell me again how you bring Grandal and Aroldis Chapman into the locker room then. Makes no sense
Maybe they are not really thinking at all.
Was watching a replay of the 7th game of the 1971 world series, great memories for a then 16 year old. Anyway after the game Bob Prince did the locker room interviews. To see the GREAT ONE again gave me goose bumps.
When prince interviewed John and Dan Galbreath,it reminded me of how much class the organization had under them. The day thet sold the pirates in 1985 ended that classiness
Curt Gowdy gave credit immediately after the final play to Jackie Hernandez as Earl Weaver had said after the Pirates got him in the trade for Fred Patek that there was no way that they could win a WS with him starting at shortstop.
The Galbreaths were a class act.They were fine owners.
But that was a much different era before wholesale free agency and when Koufax and Drysdale had to hold out together to get $100,000 each a year in 1966.
Clemente was a pretty good player wasn’t he.
By the way you tube is excellent for watching old world series and super bowls