The Chicago Cubs may add Brett Anderson to their rotation. Can he help?
The Chicago Cubs don’t have a ton of depth in their starting rotation. Their fifth starter last year, Jason Hammel, is currently a free agent after the Cubs declined his option. They traded for Mike Montgomery last season with the intention of using him in the bullpen. It looked like coming into 2017, Montgomery would be in that fifth spot. Now, it appears he will have some competition.
Sources: Brett Anderson has deal with #Cubs, pending physical. Impressed club during recent bullpen session in Arizona.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 24, 2017
Source: Brett Anderson's deal with the Chicago Cubs is for $3.5M, should he pass his physical. Incentives can take it up to $10M.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 24, 2017
Anderson made 31 starts in 2015 for the Dodgers, going 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA in 180 innings and a 1.7 WAR. In 2016, Anderson only appeared in four games due to injury and really struggled.
The 28 year old lefty has been injury prone throughout his entire career, only throwing over 100 innings in a season three times since coming up to the majors in 2009.
Anderson can be an asset for the Cubs if he stays healthy in that fifth spot. One reason? Anderson gets a ton of ground balls.
In 2015, his groundball rate was 66.3%. His career average is a 58.2% groundball rate. With an infield of Javier Baez, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are human vacuum cleaners on the infield and get everything. If Anderson can keep his rate even between those two numbers, he should have a ton of success with the Cubs, when he is healthy.
The Cubs tried to add Tyson Ross, but fell short in that quest and it appears they turned to Anderson to provide some starting pitching depth.
Anderson and Montgomery should be enough of a combination for a fifth and sixth starter. The Cubs plan on using six starters at times next year anyway. Having Anderson and Montogmery with injury and innings concerns, it’s a plan that makes sense.
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It’s crazy to think that close to $11 million, if all incentives are hit, count as a depth move but that’s where we are in the market. Anything the Cubs can get out of Anderson should useful.