The Rangers announced they’ve selected right-hander Shaun Anderson onto the MLB roster. Texas optioned Jack Leiter back to Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move. To create a 40-man roster spot, the Rangers transferred Max Scherzer from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list in what is essentially a procedural transaction.
Anderson caught on with Texas on a minor league contract last month. It marked his second stint in the organization, as he spent a couple weeks in the system in 2021 when the Rangers claimed him off waivers. They waived him themselves before getting him into a major league game, but Anderson could now get a shot to make his team debut.
If he does, it’ll be the 29-year-old’s first major league action since 2022. He made one appearance for the Blue Jays that season. Anderson opened last season in Korea and finished the year in Triple-A with the Phillies. He has made four starts for Round Rock over the past few weeks, turning in a 2.53 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. The Florida product has punched out 26.2% of opponents against a tidy 4.8% walk rate to earn his way back to the big leagues.
Anderson has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons overall. Most of his experience came with the Giants as a rookie back in 2019. He has seen more limited action divided between San Francisco, Minnesota, San Diego, Baltimore and Toronto since then. Anderson owns a 5.84 ERA over 135 2/3 career innings. His 17.1% strikeout percentage and 9.9% walk rate are each a little worse than the respective league averages. Anderson has a stronger Triple-A track record, totaling a 3.80 ERA in 270 1/3 frames at that level. He still has an option remaining, so the Rangers can move him between Arlington and Round Rock without exposing him to waivers now that he’s on the 40-man roster.
Texas essentially had an open 40-man spot given Scherzer’s status. The 60-day minimum backdates to Opening Day, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in around two weeks time. It doesn’t appear as if he’ll be ready before then. While Scherzer once seemed on track for a mid-May return following his offseason back surgery, his timetable has been delayed by thumb soreness. Scherzer received a cortisone shot over the weekend to address nerve irritation.
The future Hall of Famer told reporters today that he has recently undergone imaging on his triceps, elbow and neck (X link via Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today). That came back clean and he is set to resume throwing. He’ll need to build back for another minor league rehab assignment, though, so he’s unlikely to be ready for MLB action before the start of June.
From Mexico to the Majors within 2 months. Impressive.
They’re paying these old pitchers $40M/yr to rehab, whirlpool bath and talk about their various body parts and tell us why their recent outings went awry.
You can do a lot when you’re the defending world champs.
I get that, Ted, but it’s ironic that the guys getting the biggest money(Scherzer & Degrom)barely even contributed to the Ranger’s success last year. Outside of the New York teams, I root for every team to do well anyway, but paying these old “name” pitchers to rehab, “ramp up” and tell us what they did wrong in recent outings is not a recipe for long term success.
Mets are paying max, not Texas
Both teams are paying him actually. But the point I’m making is investing in these older “name” guys is not a good overall investment. Both the Mets & Rangers would be better off investing the approximately $15M/yr they’re both paying “Mad Max” into scouting the globe for several younger, more durable and cheaper pitching assets. And I’m not necessarily picking on Max, because I’d say the same thing about Justin Verlander. They’re both overpriced for what they actually bring at this point in their careers.
Scouting the globe doesn’t turn up MLB allstar level talent that’s major league ready for the next year.
I get what you’re saying, but besides maybe deGrom they didn’t make any bad moves at the time. Even deGrom was a relatively short contract with a high salary to offset it. The risk/benefit was obvious especially for a team that had a competitive window and money to spend to supplement the offense.
Exactly mlb, and for some reason Chris Young gets hailed as the up and coming front office genius. Well it doesn’t take much genius to throw ownerships money around on half-way permanently disabled veteran dinosaurs. I do give the guy credit for acquiring Jordan Montgomery at last year’s deadline though. Without JM, Rangers would have not even made the playoffs.
CY is only following the model that ownership wants him to follow. Elias, here in Baltimore, same thing. If Elias was in Texas, he’d be spending a lot of money. And if CY was in Baltimore, he’d be running things on the cheap.
Oh, kudos to CY for getting Bochy to come out of retirement!
Twins traded pre arb Lamonte Wade for 8 innings of negative WAR from this dude.
Inflation knows no boundaries. Even mediocrity has become unaffordable.
I read a whopper the other day.. Someone said inflation was 9% on 1/21 and that’s basically why the economy sucks so bad in 2024?
Pitching is everything
I’m not a Rangers fan, obviously, but did they not bring back Monty because they are hoping both Schrezer and DeGrom are the reason they repeat?
Let’s see: suppose Scherzer made 30 starts for his $43 million salary this year. That’s about 1.43 million per start. Suppose 6 innings per start. That’s about $239,000 per inning. Given 3 outs per inning, that’s $79,600 per out. Crazy.
A Sox fan doing long division -with a calculator of course -Impressive! Ahahaha!
You’re easily top-5 worst commenters on this site. Nothing to add, nothing of substance, and not funny at all. Your shtick is like an old person decided to troll but didn’t know trolling was a thing already.
Are you the lone incel in The Villages?
Well, “that” hurts! Guess I have to banish you to muted maroon land, carboy. Ahahahaha!