Blue Jays Add Pitching Depth, Sign Brett Anderson To Minor League Contract

Pitching depth! Just in case Nick Tepesch needed a little more motivation heading into today’s start, the Blue Jays have added another arm to their system, signing veteran lefty Brett Anderson to a minor league contract.

Anderson, who’s very good on Twitter, was released by the Chicago Cubs back on July 31. He made six starts with the Cubs, getting roughed up for 22 runs on 34 hits and 12 walks over 22 innings. He’s also made six appearances (five starts) at the Triple-A level in 2017, owning a 4.61 ERA.

That’s… Not very good! But still, depth is depth, and Anderson was once a good starter in the major leagues, which we can’t really say about any of Toronto’s other possible starting pitching options in the system right now. In fact, as recently as 2015, he played a key role in the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation, posting a 3.69 ERA over 31 starts on a playoff team.

So if Tepesch gets smacked around tonight, we could very well see Anderson make a start with the Blue Jays the next time around. Or, the Jays might be working on a Marco Estrada trade, and could need another starter on top of Tepesch and Chris Rowley, the reinforcements who have replaced the injured Aaron Sanchez and departed Francisco Liriano.