It’s Official: Cubs, Brett Anderson Agree to Incentive-Laden Deal Reported at $3.5M Base, $10M Max
We’ve been talking about it since Monday evening, when Brett Anderson first sent that Tweet saying he was heading to Chicago. It continued Wednesday when we heard that Anderson had passed his physical. In between, we gave you GIF’s, charts and breakdowns that highlighted Anderson’s sick movement. After all that we now know it’s official.
According to Jon Heyman, it’s an incentive-laden deal, which comes as no surprise given Anderson’s injury history.
Brett Anderson: 3.5M plus 500K for 11 games, 750K for 14 and 17, 1M for 20, 23 and 26, 1.5M for 29 games. 10M max #cubs
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 26, 2017
Here’ the official Chicago Cubs press release:
The Chicago Cubs and left-handed pitcher Brett Anderson have agreed to terms on a one-year contract for the 2017 campaign. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Anderson, who turns 29 on February 1, is 38-43 with a 3.86 ERA (294 ER/685.2 IP) in 127 major league appearances, all but 12 as a starter, covering all or part of eight seasons with the Oakland Athletics (2009-13), Colorado Rockies (2014) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2015-16). He owns a 58.9 ground ball percentage in his career, the second-highest mark among active pitchers since the start of the 2009 campaign (minimum 600.0 innings pitched, Houston’s Dallas Keuchel leads at 59.6 percent).
In his latest full major league campaign, Anderson went 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA (74 ER/180.1 IP) in 31 starts in 2015 to help the Dodgers to the N.L. West title, setting career highs in innings and starts. Anderson was limited to only four appearances (three starts) last season with the Dodgers due to surgery for a bulging disc in his back that kept him sidelined until August followed by a blister on his pitching hand that limited him to two outings in September.
Anderson broke into the big leagues with Oakland in 2009 at the age of 21 and went 11-11 with a 4.06 ERA (79 ER/175.1 IP) in 30 starts, finishing sixth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He was limited to 62 big league outings between 2010-2014 but posted a sub-3.00 ERA in three of those five campaigns, including a 2.57 ERA (10 ER/35.0 IP) in six starts with Oakland in 2012 after his return from Tommy John surgery and a 2.91 ERA (14 ER/43.1 IP) in eight starts with Colorado in an injury-shortened 2014 campaign.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Anderson was originally selected by Arizona in the second round of the 2006 Draft out of Stillwater (Okla.) High School. He was acquired by Oakland as part of the eight-player trade that sent pitcher Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks on December 14, 2007.
Chicago’s 40-man roster is at 40 players.