Three Targets The Cubs Need To Consider To Round Out Their Rotation

Brett Anderson

The 28-year-old lefty has bounced around a few places, first being drafted by Arizona, debuting with Oakland, being traded to Colorado, and finally signing in Los Angeles in 2015. When Anderson is healthy, which has only happened a few times in his career, the left-handed starter has shown he has the stuff to be a great mid-rotation arm. He has a fastball sits somewhere between 88-92 MPH, an excellent curveball that he use in any count, a nice, hard-breaking slider, and an underrated changeup.

However, the eight-year vet has only thrown over 100 innings three times in his career and never in succession of each other either. His most recently healthy season was 2015 with the Dodgers, where he produced a 3.69 ERA with a WHIP of 1.33 while generating a staggering groundball rate of 66.3% in 180.1 IP. Anderson was extremely effective even though his strikeout numbers had dropped from previous seasons.

And when his stuff is on, he’s damn-near impossible to square up.

The veteran starter’s injury history is a scary one that includes a sprained ankle, back surgery, along with elbow and oblique soreness and strains. Anderson is a walking question mark for 2016, as Fangraphs anticipates the lefty only managing 45 innings pitched due to injury. But if Anderson can put together a solid season and just eat innings to allow pitchers like Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, and Jake Arrieta to stay fresh for the postseason then Anderson’s season would be considered a success.