The Royals released veteran reliever Nick Anderson, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets that the right-hander is currently on release waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll hit free agency in the coming days.
Kansas City pushed Anderson out of their bullpen last weekend when they acquired Hunter Harvey. With more than five years of major league service, Anderson had the ability to decline any minor league assignments while retaining his $1.575MM salary. That led the Royals to release him after the DFA.
The Royals took a flier on Anderson in a cash trade with the Braves last offseason. Atlanta evidently wasn’t planning to keep him via arbitration, but K.C. swung a deal to bring him in just before the non-tender deadline. Anderson made 37 appearances and tossed 35 2/3 innings, his heaviest MLB workload since his dominant 2019 rookie year. The 34-year-old posted a reasonable 4.04 earned run average, but his peripherals weren’t great.
Anderson got swinging strikes on a modest 9.8% of his offerings. That resulted in a subpar 19% strikeout rate. His 9.8% walk percentage was a bit higher than average. It’s not great aggregate production, although Anderson’s strikeout and walk numbers had started to come around in recent weeks. He had nearly as many walks (12) as strikeouts (13) through the end of May. Since the calendar flipped to June, Anderson punched out 16 hitters while only issuing a trio of free passes in 15 appearances. That coincided with a home run spike, however, and the front office decided to push him out of a scuffling relief group.
Once an elite late-game weapon for the Rays, Anderson missed most of the 2021-22 seasons to elbow injuries. Tampa Bay cut him loose after the ’22 campaign. Anderson hasn’t been the same force he was back in 2019, but he was an above-average reliever for the Braves as recently as last season. He turned in a 3.04 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of opponents across 35 appearances. A shoulder strain ended his year around the All-Star Break.
If Anderson clears waivers, any team could sign him for the prorated portion of the $740K minimum. Kansas City would be on the hook for the rest of his salary. It’s not out of the question he secures a major league contract and jumps right into another team’s MLB bullpen. If he does find an MLB job, Anderson would remain under arbitration control through 2025.
He’ll be on the Yankees tomorrow AM
Someone will definitely pick him up if released.
I remember he was nasty for the Rays in that 2019 season, it was him and Diego Castillo to close out games and they weren’t too fun to face. Amazing how volatile bullpen components can be from year to year.
Anderson had an ERA of 3.06 last year and 4.04 this year. He will definitely help a team in need of bullpen arms at a pretty cheap price.
Only red flag I see is his BB is so high
Jed Hoyer on line 1. Shoot he can’t be any worse than what they have now.
Orioles like to fix broken Royals.
He will be picked up. Last 10 appearances. 10ip, 11k, 1BB, 1HR, 3 ER. He’s turned a corner since mid-June. Could be a sneaky bullpen pickup for a playoff team that costs basically nothing.
Hunter Harvey since mid-June has been the opposite. Last 11 appearances. 11ip, 12K, 5BB, 2HR, 10ER.
I feel like the Royals gave up on Anderson too early.
He’s considerably better than what a lot of teams have in their bullpens, so his unemployment should end before noon Friday.
Mets should take a look
@carlos15 I 100% agree. This bullpen has been our achillies heel. Its been that way the past 15 years
“Last 10 appearances. 10ip, 11k, 1BB, 1HR, 3 ER.”
The Kansas City Royals could use a relief pitcher with those numbers.
is it awkward to claim your own DFA’d player? lol
Trading a CBA pick and last years 2nd rounder who is doing well for the upgrade between Anderson and Harvey is not a value trade that teams like the Royals can afford to make. Even if they didn’t have anyone in mind for the pick, they could have selected Joe Schmo with the pick and been able to go overslot on the rounds 3-10 or try some lottery picks in 10-20.
Twins could give him a chance, we need pitching help
Nick Anderson could help a lot of teams. This was surprising to me since Hunter Harvey has looked hittable recently.
I guess it was the choice of “power throwing” over “pitching”. I hope it doesn’t backfire on the Royals.