Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Shaun Anderson

Shaun Anderson Signs With KBO’s Kia Tigers

By | at

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.

15 Players Elect Free Agency

By | at

As the postseason rolls along, players hit minor league free agency daily. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

MLBTR covered 34 players who qualified for minor league free agency last week. We’ll periodically provide updates as plenty more hit the open market, as reflected on the MiLB.com transactions log.

Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Blue Jays Designate Shaun Anderson For Assignment

By and | at

The Blue Jays have designated righty Shaun Anderson for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Matt Peacock, whose previously reported waiver claim has now been announced by the team.

Anderson’s stay on the 40-man roster lasted a bit less than two weeks, as he was initially selected in late June. He made a lone big league appearance, serving up two runs in a mop-up relief inning during a win over the Red Sox. The 27-year-old has otherwise spent the entire season with the Jays’ top affiliate in Buffalo, posting a 3.88 ERA through 48 2/3 innings. That’s solid run prevention, but Anderson has only struck out 20.1% of opposing hitters at the top minor league level.

While the former third-round pick has spent most of this season in the minors, Anderson has a fairly lengthy track record in the big leagues. He’s appeared in parts of four campaigns, with the majority of his work coming as a rookie with the 2019 Giants. He posted a 5.44 ERA through 96 innings that year, starting 16 of his 28 outings. Over the next few seasons, Anderson has worked exclusively in relief at the major league level, although he’s gotten six starts in Buffalo this year. Altogether, he owns a 5.84 ERA in 135 2/3 MLB frames split between five different teams (San Francisco, the Twins, Orioles, Padres and Jays).

Toronto will have a week to trade Anderson or place him on waivers. The Jays succeeded in passing him through waivers last fall after grabbing him from San Diego. That previous outright means Anderson would have the right to refuse another assignment in favor of minor league free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Blue Jays Select Shaun Anderson

By | at

The Blue Jays announced they’ve selected righty Shaun Anderson onto the MLB roster, with reliever Jeremy Beasley optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. A 40-man roster spot was created by transferring Hyun Jin Ryu from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.

Toronto grabbed Anderson off waivers from the Padres last November. They passed him through waivers a couple weeks later, keeping him in the minor leagues without necessitating a 40-man spot. The right-hander had been a fairly desirable bullpen depth option, having bounced between Minnesota, Texas and Baltimore before landing in San Diego. Altogether, he struggled to an 8.49 ERA through 23 1/3 innings with three clubs.

Anderson has spent this season with the Bisons, working 46 innings over 14 appearances (including six starts). The 27-year-old has a 3.91 ERA, striking out a below-average 19.7% of opponents but demonstrating strong control as a multi-inning pitcher. Anderson still has a minor league option year remaining, so the Jays can bounce him from Toronto to Buffalo for the remainder of the season.

Ryu’s IL transfer was a formality whenever the club needed a 40-man roster spot. The veteran southpaw recently underwent Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the rest of this season and most or all of next year as well.

The Giants Picked Up A Productive Outfielder In An Under-The-Radar Deal Last Winter

By | at

The Giants had quite a few unexpected contributors last year en route to a surprising franchise-record 107 wins. Among that group was a player quietly acquired a month before the start of Spring Training. An unheralded pickup at the time, LaMonte Wade Jr. turned out to be an impressive find who could be a valuable part of the San Francisco outfield for the next few seasons.

Last February, San Francisco picked up Wade from the Twins as part of a one-for-one swap that sent righty Shaun Anderson to Minnesota. Wade, 27, had briefly appeared in each of the prior two seasons for the Twins but had a grand total of 113 big league plate appearances under his belt. A .211/.336/.347 hitter in that time, he had an impressive strikeout and walk profile but little else on his MLB resume.

Yet the Giants saw something of interest in Wade, whether based on their scouts’ evaluations or his minor league numbers. He’d hit .246/.392/.356 in Triple-A in 2019. The left-handed hitter only popped five home runs, but his 14.4% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk percentage at the minors’ top level were both far better than the league average. It was an interesting showing, but Wade’s lack of power was concerning for a player whom most scouting reports suggested was best suited for the corner outfield.

It’s easy to understand why the Twins front office felt that moving Wade was subtracting a depth option from an area of organizational strength. They already had Byron Buxton and Max Kepler entrenched in the outfield, and top prospects Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach all looked to be approaching themselves. (Kirilloff had debuted in the majors during the 2020 postseason). Wade wasn’t at the level of those other players, and he was entering his final minor league option year.

Yet the deal backfired for Minnesota essentially immediately. Anderson allowed 12 runs in 8 2/3 innings with the Twins before being designated for assignment. Claimed off waivers by the Rangers, he bounced around between a few organizations before finally clearing waivers last month. He’s a member of the Blue Jays now but no longer occupies a 40-man roster spot.

Wade, on the other hand, had a quality showing in his first extended MLB look. He hit .253/.326/.482 with 18 home runs over 381 plate appearances for San Francisco. He became a bit more aggressive at the plate, and his walk and strikeout numbers (8.7% and 23.4%, respectively) were actually fairly ordinary.

Instead, Wade hit for a surprising amount of power. In addition to the 18 homers, he rapped 17 doubles and three triples. That’s a 28-homer, 27-double pace over 600 plate appearances (roughly the equivalent of a full season’s worst of playing time). His .229 isolated power far outpaced the .171 league average. According to Statcast, his average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard contact rate were each a fair bit better than the league mark.

That’s not to say the Twins gave away a future star. The Giants deployed Wade almost exclusively against right-handed pitching, leveraging their strong depth to put him in position to succeed. As a result of the heavy platooning, his rate numbers were probably better than they’d have been had he been asked to play everyday and drawn more assignments against tough lefties. As scouting reports had suggested, Wade was also primarily limited to the corner outfield and first base, only picking up two starts in center field.

Not all deals have to bring back All-Stars, though. The Giants have already gotten the better end of the swap, and Wade looks to have a good chance of being a quality contributor within the San Francisco outfield mix over the next few seasons. If that proves to be the case, the deal will be a nice feather in the cap of president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and his staff — an example of a team successfully pulling from another organization’s area of depth to unearth a valuable addition to their roster.

Outrights: Scrubb, de Geus, Martin, Anderson

By | at

As a busy evening of contract tendering (and non-tendering) draws to a close, some players find themselves in a new position of being outrighted off their team’s 40-man roster. The following players cleared waivers and remain with one of their organization’s minor league affiliates:

  • Right-handed Astros reliever Andre Scrubb has been outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land. Scrubb posted a shiny 1.90 ERA across 23 innings last season despite a huge 19.6% walk rate. His ERA regressed to 5.03 in a similar sample size of 19 innings, while his home run rate ballooned to nearly double the league average.
  • Arizona infielder Andrew Young and right-handed pitcher Brett de Geus  are ticketed for Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno, respectively. Young demonstrated strong power numbers in limited action but struck out an untenable 43.3% of the time. The 24-year-old de Geus was a Rule 5 pick who was thrown into the fire by both the Rangers and Diamondbacks this season, but will return to the minors for additional seasoning after recently being designated for assignment.
  • Baltimore shortstop Richie Martin is headed to Triple-A Norfolk following a sub-replacement level season as an Oriole. The 26-year-old Martin has shown some offensive prowess at Double-A in the past, but for now he’ll look to establish himself as a plus hitter at Triple-A for the first time.
  • Blue Jays right-hander Shaun Anderson is on his way to Triple-A Buffalo after a busy season that saw him pitch for three big league teams, only to be claimed by Toronto in mid-November. Anderson didn’t have much go right in his 23 innings this year, but has consistently been capable of 3-something ERAs in the minor leagues as a starter or reliever.

Blue Jays Claim Shaun Anderson From Padres

By | at

The Blue Jays announced they’ve claimed right-hander Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Padres. Additionally, Toronto selected right-handers Hagen Danner and Bowden Francis, lefty Zach Logue and infielder Leo Jimenez to the 40-man roster to keep them from selection in the Rule 5 draft.

Now best known for his inclusion in a lopsided swap that sent LaMonte Wade Jr. from Minnesota to San Francisco, Anderson possesses a big slider and plenty of velocity that have piqued the interest of several clubs. Despite being torched for an 8.49 ERA in 23 2/3 innings this season, Anderson spent time with four different teams. He’s now failed to clear waivers four times in the past six months, demonstrating the quality of his raw arsenal. The 27-year-old still has a minor league option remaining, and the Jays will hope to tap into his raw talent and coax out some better results in 2022.

The 20-year-old Jimenez ranks 11th among Jays prospects at MLB.com and posted one of the more ludicrous lines fans will see, hitting .320/.523/.392 on the season. That’s not exactly a tiny sample, either; Jimenez tallied 262 plate appearances and reached base a comical 137 times. In addition to a ridiculous 20.6% walk rate, Jimenez was also plunked 25 times. He can play both middle infield positions but won’t realistically be an option until at least 2023, as he’s yet to even reach the Double-A level.

Bogh Francis and Logue rank on the back end of MLB.com’s Jays Top 30 and both posted sub-4.00 ERAs with promising strikeout rates. Francis joined the organization in the trade that sent Rowdy Tellez to the Brewers. Logue is a a former ninth-rounder who turned in an eye-opening 28.2% strikeout rate against a minuscule 5.2% walk rate.

As for Danner, he’s 2017 second-rounder who moved from catcher to the mound this season and posted a brilliant 2.02 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate through 35 2/3 innings in High-A — his first pro experience on the mound. He’s still new to pitching, but with a debut like that, it’s understandable that Toronto had no interest in potentially losing him in the Rule 5 Draft.

Padres Claim Shaun Anderson Off Waivers From Orioles

By | at

The Padres claimed right-hander Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Orioles today, both teams announced. The Padres optioned the right-hander to Triple-A El Paso.

Anderson’s time with the Orioles was brief, as he made just seven appearances totalling 10 innings after being claimed off waivers from the Twins. Anderson surrendered 10 earned runs on 17 hits and five walks while striking out seven. He’ll provide depth for the Padres, whose pitching staff has struggled to stay healthy this season.

As for the Orioles, they made a number of their own roster moves today, reinstating Ryan Hartman from the injured list, recalling Isaac Mattson, and designating Conner Greene for assignment. Greene, 26, made just three appearances for the O’s, yielding six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Orioles Designate Shaun Anderson, Domingo Leyba For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles announced they’ve designated right-hander Shaun Anderson and infielder Domingo Leyba for assignment. The moves were needed to clear 40-man roster space for the previously reported selections of right-handers Marcos Diplán and Dusten Knight.

Anderson has bounced around the league on waivers over the past few months and is now slated to again find himself on the wire. Traded from the Giants to the Twins in a lopsided deal that sent LaMonte Wade Jr. to San Francisco, he’s been waived by Minnesota, Texas and now Baltimore in rather rapid succession. He never pitched in the big leagues with the Rangers, but he’s combined for 18 2/3 relief innings of 9.16 ERA/5.23 SIERA ball between the Twins and Orioles this season.

The 26-year-old has yet to find much success at the major league level over parts of three campaigns. Anderson broke in as a starting pitcher with the Giants in 2019 but has worked exclusively out of the bullpen over the past two seasons. Overall, he’s logged a 5.75 ERA across 130 frames, posting worse than average strikeout and walk rates (17.3% and 10.1%, respectively).

That said, Anderson has clearly piqued the interest of a number of teams around the league. He was once a fairly well-regarded prospect, and he’s pitched to a solid 3.61 ERA over parts of three Triple-A campaigns. Anderson can be optioned for the remainder of this season and next, so he’d be a flexible depth option for a pitching staff if another club is willing to give him a 40-man roster spot. The former third-round pick has been claimed by teams near the top of the waiver priority list both times he’s previously been designated, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him land elsewhere over the next few days.

Baltimore added Leyba off waivers from the Diamondbacks in early June. The 25-year-old has seen action at both second and third base but stumbled to a .115/.198/.161 line over 96 plate appearances between the two teams. Leyba is out of options, so any claiming team would need to keep him on the active roster or waive him themselves. Arizona passed him through outright waivers last November, so Leyba has the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency should he clear again.

The O’s will likely need to make another move in the coming days. Southpaw Ryan Hartman, claimed off waivers from the Astros over the weekend, was placed on the COVID-19 injured list while he goes through intake protocols. That temporarily opened space for Baltimore to reinstate infielder Richie Martin from the 60-day IL on Monday. Once Hartman is cleared to report to the team, the Orioles will have to create additional 40-man roster space.

Orioles Claim Shaun Anderson Off Waivers From Rangers, Designate Konner Wade For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles claimed Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A, the team announced. He’ll be joined there by Stevie Wilkerson, who cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Norfolk. To create a spot on the 40-man roster, Konner Wade was designated for assignment.

The Orioles are always in need of innings eaters. and Anderson can do exactly that. The 26-year-old has 16 career starts to his name, though those came with the Giants in 2019. More recently, he’s been a bullpen arm, though still one capable of shouldering a multi-inning load.

Anderson did not actually pitch in the Majors for Texas. In fact, his time with the Rangers consisted of a pair of outings in Triple-A, amounting to three scoreless innings. The Orioles are his third organization in 2021, however, starting the year as he did with the Twins, for whom he made four appearances, logging 8 2/3 innings and yielding nine earned runs on 13 hits and five walks while striking out eight. It would not be surprising to see Anderson in the Majors at some point this season.

Having recently lost Travis Lakins to a significant elbow injury, the Orioles needed another depth arm. They like Anderson enough to get him at the potential expense of Wade, who will now be exposed to waivers. There’s a decent chance he stays in the organization, however, as the 29-year-old rookie has just one Major League appearance, and the control artist lacks the type of strikeout stuff that tends to attract the attention of other organizations.

Wilkerson, meanwhile, has come out the other end of that waiver process and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. The 29-year-old utility man has hit just .167/.211/.208 in 76 plate appearances this year.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top