Tyler Anderson didn’t want to wait around.
The baseball calendar provided a five-day window for the veteran left-hander to decide whether to accept the qualifying offer from the Dodgers, and he didn’t want to be without a team past that deadline.
Anderson ended up agreeing to a three-year, $39-million deal with the Angels on Tuesday, just before the expiration of the $19.65-million qualifying offer from the Dodgers, and that was no coincidence of timing.
A day after his deal with the Angels became official, Anderson said Thursday that his goal was a quick resolution to free agency.
“There were a lot of teams that had three (years) and were willing to do maybe more if we went into free agency longer, but that wasn’t a risk I wanted to take,” Anderson said. “I want to either take a qualifying offer or get a deal done right before the qualifying offer expired.”
Anderson said it was appealing to return to the Dodgers for at least one year, at a salary higher than the $13 million per year he’s getting from the Angels, but he ultimately decided to take the security of a multi-year deal.
Anderson said the Dodgers were “a good team, a fun atmosphere, a great city,” but he added that he also feels the Angels can give him what he wants, on and off the field.
Close proximity to his Arizona home was appealing for Anderson, who has three young children.
Also, even though the Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, Anderson said the future is bright.
“The last couple years, I’ve seen Anaheim quite a bit,” said Anderson, who finished 2021 with the Seattle Mariners. “I kind of know the talent here and the players. Obviously, there’s been some issues with health and depth and stuff, but I always thought playing them it was a really good team.
“Guys play good defense. The pitching is really good. I’ve seen a lot of pitching in Anaheim shut down a lot of teams I’ve been on. I just think there’s a lot of a lot of room to have a great team. I think Perry (Minasian) knows that too. Just as an outsider, it’s pretty easy to see that there’s a lot of talent.”
Anderson, 32, could certainly help the Angels get over the hump if he can repeat the season he just had with the Dodgers. He posted a 2.57 ERA and made the All-Star team. Anderson had a 4.62 ERA before last season, so it’s fair to ask whether his improvement is sustainable.
Anderson conceded that “it’s hard to say you’re going to repeat the best year ever every year,” but he believes he can succeed because most of the improvement stemmed from a tweak to his changeup. He was able to throw the pitcher slower, which gave it more of a separation with his 90 mph fastball and kept hitters off balance.
Related Articles
Angels’ Shohei Ohtani officially commits to play for Japan in WBC
Hoornstra: Making peace with the slow pace of MLB’s offseason
Angels GM Perry Minasian believes Tyler Anderson can continue success without a shift behind him
Angels’ Shohei Ohtani 4th in AL Cy Young voting; Astros’ Justin Verlander is unanimous winner
Tyler Anderson leaves Dodgers for 3-year deal with Angels
“The change wasn’t massive, so for it me it seems like the physical part of it is a repeatable thing,” he said.
Anderson also found continued success in 2022 with something he’d started as an experiment in 2021. He alters his release point depending on whether he’s facing a righty or lefty.
“If you have really great stuff sometimes, you don’t even need to do that,” Anderson said. “But if your stuff isn’t on the higher end and you’re gonna punch everybody out, you’re super nasty, then you have to figure out how to be scrappy, how to play the game a little bit and be resourceful.”