Yankees Should Roll the Dice on One of These Risky Starting Pitchers

Brett Anderson

This perennial lottery ticket showed he is not a complete lost cause when he rewarded the Los Angeles Dodgers with a very rare healthy campaign in 2015, pitching to a 3.69 ERA and 3.94 FIP in a career-high 180.1 IP (31 GS). For his efforts, Anderson received a qualifying offer last winter which he wisely accepted.

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In March, to the surprise of no one, it was revealed that Anderson would undergo surgery to address a bulging disk in his back. It was the second back surgery the 28-year-old has required in the last three years, amid a smattering of other injuries.

He returned in mid-August for two starts before a sprained wrist forced him back to the DL for another month. He pitched twice more in September before being shut down for the season.

After making a combined $35.3 million on his three consecutive one-year deals, Anderson will likely have to take a significant pay cut this winter. Neither MLBTR or FanGraphs has Anderson among their top 50 free agents despite the fact that he remains on the right side of 30 and has been quite effective when healthy.

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Based on recent history, the team that signs Anderson has a decent chance of getting 10-15 good starts out of him. For one year and $5 million or so, that’s not a bad price, and if he ends up replicating his 2015 campaign, New York would land the free agent bargain of the winter. Why not give it a shot?