Phillies: Top 5 starting pitching trade targets, per MLB Trade Rumors
By David Esser
Tyler Anderson, Pittsburgh Pirates
Signed to a one-year deal this past offseason with the intent of flipping him around the trade deadline, left-hander Tyler Anderson has put together a half-decent season for the Pittsburgh Pirates thus far. He’s 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA through ten starts at the moment, but he’s producing career-bests in swinging-strike rate and opponent chase rate.
The #5 player on MLBTR’s list, Anderson has also done a fairly decent job of pitching deep into games this season, as he’s currently averaging just north of 5.6 innings pitched per start.
Anderson wouldn’t be that sizable of an upgrade to any team looking to make a playoff push this season, but when you take into account his current $2.5 million salary, it’s not hard to paint the picture of him being a highly sought after “bargain” addition at this year’s trade deadline.
Anderson wouldn’t push the Phillies over the top – they simply have too many roster holes at the moment. However, he’s a lefty on a really cheap salary, so I wouldn’t rule him out of the conversation altogether if the Phils are able to creep their way back over the .500 mark by the time the trade deadline rolls around.
Ultimately speaking I think Dombrowski has bigger plans up ahead, I don’t think he’d be all that interested in playing the margins with someone like Anderson.