San Francisco Giants: Breaking down newest waiver claim Tyler Anderson

The San Francisco Giants have already begun the roster turnover process by claiming left-handed starting pitcher Tyler Anderson off waivers from the Colorado Rockies.

The San Francisco Giants have already begun to make changes to their roster and we haven’t even officially reached the offseason yet. On the final day of the MLB season, the Giants claimed left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson off waivers.

A first-round pick of the Colorado Rockies back in 2011, Anderson has spent the past eight in the Rockies organization finally reaching the major-league level for the first time in 2016.

After spending his first two professional seasons split between the minors and the majors, Anderson became a regular fixture in Colorado’s rotation in 2018 earning 32 starts en route to a 4.55 ERA.

And while many might assume that his numbers were inflated by the always hitter-friendly Coors Field, Anderson actually posted better numbers at home. Anderson owns a dreadful 5.31 ERA in 33 career road starts but hosts a much better 4.23 ERA in 40 home appearances.

The 29-year-old began the 2019 season in the Rockies rotation but got off to a rather inauspicious start. In five starts, Anderson posted an ERA of 11.76 while allowing eight home runs and 33 hits in only 20.2 innings pitched.

His season would take an even worse turn when it was announced that he would undergo season-ending knee surgery knocking him out for the remainder of the 2019 season.

Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters in September that Anderson would hopefully be back “within the first couple of months of the 2020 season.” At the very least, he’s expected to miss a good chunk of spring training.

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That said, this is exactly the type of low-risk, high-reward waiver claim that president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has become known for.

Zaidi made a habit out of making a large number of low-profile additions last season which led to the Giants using a National League record 64 players during the year. Most of those pick-ups didn’t work out — see Aaron Altherr, Connor Joe, etc.

But to his credit, players like Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski proved to be key finds during the Giants’ incredible July stretch and both could still have a future with the team.

Perhaps Anderson could follow in the same path.

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If he does, the Giants will be able to cash in too as he’s under team control through 2021 giving them a low-cost starting option if he could return to his 2018 form or better. And with Madison Bumgarner set to hit free agency, the Giants need all the help they could get.

Outside of Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija, the Giants struggled to find any consistency among the other starters that were thrust into action. In fact, out of the 10 other players not named Bumgarner of Samardzija who made a start last season, not a single one of them finished with an ERA south of 5.00.

Not exactly ideal for a team that once relied so heavily on its pitching.

Zaidi will be hoping that Anderson could at least provide some stability if he could make the roster upon his return from injury. At the very least, it’s never a bad thing to have additional depth with MLB experience.

Here’s to hoping that Anderson could turn out more like Dickerson and Yastrzemski than Altherr and Joe.