The Cardinals reassigned righty Nick Anderson to minor league camp, however the right-hander has an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal, studies Katie Woo of The Athletic. Successfully, that forces the Cardinals to make him accessible to the 29 different groups and let him go if one other membership is prepared to position him on its 40-man roster.
Extra particularly, MLBTR has realized that Anderson might be accessible to different golf equipment on March 23. They’ll have 24 hours to determine whether or not they need to declare him and place him on the 40-man roster. If one other staff is prepared to take action, the Cardinals may have 72 hours to counter by inserting him on their very own 40-man roster; in the event that they select to not, they should let him go. Anderson’s deal comprises a $1.1MM base wage within the massive leagues.
Anderson, 34, has had a rollercoaster profession. At occasions, he’s been flat-out dominant, as was the case in 2019-20, when he pitched 81 1/3 innings of two.77 ERA ball with a ridiculous 42.2% strikeout price and 6.5% stroll price. He’s by no means fairly recreated that success however has typically been efficient when wholesome. That, sadly, has confirmed to be a significant caveat for the oft-injured righty.
Although he debuted in 2019 and has greater than 5 years of MLB service, Anderson solely has 158 1/3 innings of main league work underneath his belt. He’s been sidelined by a laundry record of accidents, together with a shoulder pressure, and inside brace process on his proper ulnar collateral ligament, plantar fasciitis, a again pressure and forearm irritation. All of these accidents have occurred since 2020.
It’s been a combined bag for Anderson this spring. He’s had a couple of stable outings however was tagged for 4 runs in one-third of an inning halfway by means of camp. In his closing look earlier than being despatched out to minor league camp, he gave up a pair of solo homers in an inning of labor. General, he’s yielded eight runs on 11 hits and two walks and 6 strikeouts in 5 1/3 frames — a grisly 13.50 ERA. It’s a small pattern that’s closely skewed by that one significantly terrible outing, nevertheless it’s nonetheless not an excellent set of outcomes when hoping one other membership would possibly come calling with a 40-man roster alternative.
Rocky spring however, Anderson touts a 3.18 earned run common within the majors and has paired that with plus strikeout and stroll charges of 31.6% and seven.2%, respectively. If a membership watched him throughout Grapefruit League play and felt his uncooked stuff outshined the small-sample run prevention numbers, it’s possible that his monitor document and present well being might immediate one other staff to have a look. His $1.1MM base wage is barely $340K north of league minimal. Nevertheless, as a result of he has five-plus years of MLB service, Anderson would want to consent to be optioned with one other staff, which solely throws one other layer into the equation when weighing the opportunity of including him as soon as he’s formally accessible.
