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Rays Acquire Harold Ramirez From Cubs

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The Rays have acquired outfielder Harold Ramírez from the Cubs in exchange for minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz, according to announcements from both teams. Tampa Bay announced they’ve placed reliever Nick Anderson on the 60-day injured list to open space for Ramírez on the 40-man roster.

The move brings Ramírez’s Chicago tenure to an end before he ever suited up for the team. The Cubs acquired the right-handed hitting outfielder from the Guardians in exchange for cash in late November. That came after Cleveland had designated him for assignment in advance of Rule 5 protection day, part of an overhaul of more than a quarter of the Guardians’ 40-man roster.

While Ramírez didn’t play in a game with the Cubs, he has logged a fair bit of MLB action over the past few seasons. A former Blue Jays’ farmhand, Ramírez debuted in the majors with the Marlins in 2019. He hit .276/.312/.416 in 119 games as a rookie, but he missed almost all of the following season after suffering a severe hamstring strain. Cleveland picked him up off waivers in February and gave him 361 plate appearances, and his .268/.305/.398 line wasn’t much different than his 2019 performance.

The 27-year-old Ramírez has a career .271/.308/.405 mark in a bit more than 800 plate appearances. He makes a fair amount of contact, leading to a solid batting average. Yet he’s paired that with a minuscule 4% walk rate and a below-average .134 ISO (slugging minus average). Ramírez’s 47.2% hard contact percentage and 91.3 MPH average exit velocity were more impressive than those bottom line power numbers might suggest, but he negated a good bit of that batted ball authority by putting more than half his balls in play on the ground.

Ramírez adds an affordable option to the Tampa Bay outfield. He’ll play the 2022 campaign on just a $728K salary and is controllable via arbitration through 2025. The Rays could keep him around as a long-term piece, but he’s also out of minor league option years. That means Tampa Bay must either carry him on the active roster all season or DFA him themselves.

Whether Ramírez sticks long-term could be determined by what the Rays have planned for the coming weeks. The outfield is already pretty crowded, with Randy Arozarena, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot lined up as the projected starting group. Austin Meadows will see some time in the corners and at designated hitter, while the out-of-options Brett Phillips and top prospect Josh Lowe figure to be in the mix. It may be tough to carry both Phillips and Ramírez in depth capacities all season, but the former is a better defensive option off the bench. Ramírez has some experience in center field but is better suited for the corners.

Of course, it’s possible the Rays deal from the outfield logjam before the season. Meadows, in particular, has been floated in trade rumors since the lockout was lifted. The front office isn’t going to be pressured to deal one of their regulars because they picked up Ramírez in a minor trade, but today’s deal could be a preemptive move to bolster the outfield depth in case another swap on the horizon.

From the Cubs’ perspective, the pair of Ramírez trades essentially amounts to picking up Quiroz for cash. Despite never having appeared in the majors, Quiroz is actually a few years older than Ramírez. At 30 years old, the lefty-hitting infielder isn’t a prototypical prospect. Yet he has a long track record of performing well in both the Mexican League and in the high minors, one that has caught the attention of a handful of clubs.

Originally signed by the Red Sox out of Mexico, Quiroz was dealt to the Padres for Colten Brewer over the 2018-19 offseason. Tampa Bay picked him up in March 2020 as the player to be named later in the Tommy Pham, Jake Cronenworth, Hunter Renfroe deal. Listed at 5’6″, 199 pounds, he doesn’t have overwhelming physical tools. Yet Quiroz owns a .270/.391/.534 line in his Triple-A career, including a .268/.401/.526 mark with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham last season. Quiroz won’t occupy a spot on the Cubs 40-man roster; he’ll presumably head to Triple-A Iowa and keep trying to earn an MLB debut.

Anderson’s placement on the 60-day IL was a formality whenever the Rays needed a roster spot. The righty underwent a UCL brace procedure last October that was always expected to keep him out of action past the All-Star Break.

AL East Notes: Anderson, Whitlock, Barnes

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Rays righty Nick Anderson, on the mend from surgery that installed a brace to stabilize a damaged ligament in his elbow, tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that he’s progressing through rehab and currently throwing from 60 feet. The 31-year-old originally sustained a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in Spring Training 2021 but opted for rehab rather than Tommy John surgery after both the Rays’ medical staff and renowned surgeon Dr. Keith Meister advised that course of treatment. He returned to the big leagues in September but didn’t look close to his 2019-20 form in doing so. Anderson acknowledged that had he initially opted for surgery, he might be in a better place, rehab-wise, than he currently is, but explained that the decision is never so easy.

“Obviously, looking back at it, I’m like, well, shoot, I should have just got cut open right away when I had the injury,” says Anderson. “That would have solved that and I would have been back like the beginning of this year. But what do you do? You don’t ever really know. You  just make a choice and roll with it, and hope it’s the right one.” Topkin notes that Anderson is expected back at some point in the middle of the 2021 season.

Some more from the division…

  • Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock proved to be a sensational find in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, emerging as a key reliever who helped fuel Boston’s return to the postseason in 2021. Whitlock, who’s been a starter for the majority of his career, tells Stan Grossfield of the Boston Globe that he enjoys starting and “love[s] the routine behind it and everything,” but he took a team-first approach in adding that the competitor in him will work in any role he’s asked. The Sox, however, clearly haven’t ruled out the possibility of Whitlock transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation at some point, though, as the right-hander himself explained. “They told me to come in prepared to be, like, fighting for a starting job, and they’ll reevaluate it from there,” says Whitlock. “So I’m going to build up and I’m going to go in and be as prepared as I can be.” The comments from Whitlock come amid a much lengthier profile of the right-hander — an interesting look at his back story and journey to the Majors, wherein he even opines that Tommy John surgery “saved his life” by giving him the needed downtime for valuable introspection and to get into a better place, mentally, than he had been previously.
  • Matt Barnes’ 2021 was a tale of two seasons, as the Red Sox righty pitched to a dominant 2.25 ERA with a 42% strikeout rate through his first 44 innings before his performance fell off a cliff. Barnes yielded a dozen runs, surrendered four homers and walked nine batters in his final 10 2/3 innings of the season — a stretch of 10.13 ERA ball that led to what would’ve previously been an unthinkable omission from the postseason roster. Barnes, who signed a two-year extension worth $18.75MM in the midst of that hot streak during July, spoke to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com about the manner in which his season spiraled out of control and expressed confidence in a 2022 rebound. Barnes called it the “craziest year of his life” and a “perfect storm” of circumstances that led to his struggles, beginning with the development of some bad habits when he’d pitched quite a bit in a short period of time. He then missed more than two weeks after a positive Covid-19 test and feels he “ran out of time” to recalibrate and get back into form. He’s owed $7.25MM in 2022 and $7.5MM in 2023 before the Sox must decide on an $8MM option for 2024, so a return to the form he showed up through early August is particularly important for both Barnes and the club.

Nick Anderson Undergoes Elbow Surgery, Will Miss At Least First Half Of 2022 Season

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Rays right-hander Nick Anderson underwent a UCL brace procedure on his right elbow, according to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).  Anderson will miss the majority of the 2022 season recovering from the surgery, as he isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break.

Elbow problems already cost Anderson virtually all of the 2021 campaign, as he suffered a partial ligament tear during Spring Training last March and then didn’t pitch until September, eventually tossing only six innings.  Anderson also missed about two weeks of the 2020 season due to forearm inflammation, but didn’t seem any worse for wear, allowing only one earned run in seven regular-season innings after returning from the 10-day injured list.

It is fair to wonder, however, whether Anderson’s heavy usage in the 2020 postseason led to his current issues.  Anderson pitched 14 2/3 innings over 10 playoff games and lacked much of his effectiveness from the regular season, delivering only a 5.52 ERA after allowing runs in eight of those appearances.

Anderson is already 31 years old and didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 28, but he achieved definite late-bloomer status with his big strikeout numbers out of the Marlins and Rays bullpens.  Anderson posted a stunning 42.2% strikeout rate over his first 81 1/3 Major League innings, complementing all those missed bats with some strong control (6.5% walk rate).  Tampa Bay acquired Anderson from Miami at the 2019 trade deadline, and quickly made the righty a featured member of their ever-shifting relief corps.

Unfortunately for Anderson, his abbreviated 2021 season came just before he became eligible for salary arbitration, so he is projected for a modest $900K salary in his first trip through the arb process.  Given how the Rays operate within such a tight budget, it now seems possible that they could potentially non-tender Anderson, if the team has any doubts about how he might recover from this latest setback.  Or, the Rays might just figure that $900K could be better allocated towards a player who could help them for the entire season, rather than just the last two-plus months.

Rays Place Chris Archer On Injured List, Designate Shawn Armstrong, Activate Nick Anderson And Brett Phillips

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The Rays have made a flurry of roster moves, as first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links).  Right-hander Chris Archer has been placed on the 10-day injured list with discomfort in his left hip, while fellow right Shawn Armstrong has been designated for assignment.  To fill the two open roster spots, Tampa Bay has activated right-hander Nick Anderson from the 60-day injured list and outfielder Brett Phillips from the 10-day IL.

Archer was solid over four innings in yesterday’s 7-2 victory over the Tigers, allowing one run on a walk and two hits during his brief start.  However, Archer’s hip issue forced him out of the game early, marking the second time in less than a month that the injury led to an early exit from a start.

Injures have been a constant for Archer in recent years, and yesterday’s start was only Archer’s sixth game of the season.  After missing all of 2020 recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, he spent over four months of the 2021 campaign on the IL due to forearm tightness.

While this latest trip to the IL might be just be a way to rest Archer and allow him to fully get over a nagging injury, it also has to call into question Archer’s availability for Tampa Bay’s playoff roster.  Over the small sample size of 19 1/3 innings, Archer has a 4.66 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, and 9.6% walk rate — not eye-popping numbers by any means, though perhaps productive enough for a Rays team that seems poised to use a bullpen-heavy approach with their postseason pitching staff.  Tampa will need as many quality arms as possible to keep everyone fresh for what the club hopes will be a more successful trip to the World Series.

That same logic applies to Anderson, who is finally set to make his 2021 debut after suffering a partial tear of his right elbow ligament near the end of Spring Training.  It is a testament to the Rays’ incredible bullpen depth that their relief corps has remained among the game’s best even despite the absence of arguably their best reliever from 2019-20.  A trade deadline pickup from the Marlins in July 2019, Anderson has been all but untouchable over 37 2/3 regular-season innings with Tampa, as he has posted a 1.43 ERA, a tiny 3.68% walk rate, and an absurd 49.26% strikeout rate.

The Rays leaned hard on Anderson during their postseason run last October, and it seems the increased usage took its toll on the right-hander.  Anderson pitched in 10 of Tampa Bay’s 20 playoff games, and allowed runs in eight of his appearances.  Most infamously, Anderson was the pitcher called in to replace a seemingly-cruising Blake Snell in Game 6 of last year’s World Series — Anderson immediately surrendered the Rays’ lead within two batters, putting the Dodgers ahead for good in the Series-clinching game.

Armstrong was a trade deadline pickup from the Orioles, and the veteran righty posted a 4.50 ERA over his 16 innings in a Rays uniform.  Despite some solid peripheral numbers, Armstrong was again hurt by the home run ball, as he has already allowed five homers in his brief time with Tampa Bay.  Armstrong has surrendered 10 homers in his 36 combined innings with Baltimore and Tampa this season, a jarring spike for a pitcher who gave up just 17 home runs over his 131 previous career frames as a big league pitcher.

Since Armstrong is out of minor league options, the Rays had to put him through DFA waivers in order to remove him from their roster.  Armstrong has the right to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A, since he was already outrighted off the Orioles’ roster earlier this week.  It is also possible another team simply claims Armstrong off waivers, in order to add another relief arm down the stretch.

Rays Place Shane McClanahan, Matt Wisler On 10-Day Injured List

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Tightness in Shane McClanahan’s back has forced the Rays to place the rookie southpaw on the 10-day injured list yesterday. The injury is minor, however, and the Rays plan to have McClanahan back in the rotation as of September 19, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan has made 22 starts for the Rays, which puts him first on the team in that category, while he’s second in innings pitched with 110 1/3 frames. Those innings have largely been quality: McClanahan has posted a 3.59 ERA/3.23 FIP with a strikeout rate roughly four percent better than average and a walk rate roughly one percent better than average.

In the meantime, Louis Head was recalled from Triple-A, and Chris Archer will move back into the rotation to start today’s game against the Tigers. The 31-year-old Head is in his first season with Tampa, a year in which he’s made his Major League debut and posted a 2.93 ERA/3.52 FIP in 27 2/3 innings. Archer has yet to find his groove, though he did soak up five innings during his last start on September 4.

In less promising news, Matt Wisler could be sidelined for the rest of the season due to inflammation in his middle finger. The team is hopeful he sees some improvement after a 10-day shutdown, but the outlook doesn’t look promising. Wisler has been stellar since joining Tampa from the Giants, pitching to a 2.30 ERA/2.17 FIP over 27 1/3 innings.

If Wisler is out for the year, the Rays could replace him with a familiar face: Nick Anderson should join the active roster for the first time this season on Sunday, per Topkin. That the Rays have succeeded as they have without Anderson all year speaks to their pitching depth. Anderson was a crucial piece of their pen last season and could be again if he appears on track heading into the postseason. Anderson has been out all year with a partial ligament tear in his elbow.

AL East Notes: Mancini, Kirk, Anderson, McKay, Kluber

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In a bit of good news for Orioles’ fans, Trey Mancini will participate in this year’s Home Run Derby, per The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (via Twitter). Mancini should provide some feel-good coverage for the 2021 All-Star festivities. Having missed last season while being treated for stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini has returned to lead the Orioles with a .260/.337/.466 triple-slash line with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in, good for a 121 wRC+. Let’s check in with the other clubs in the AL East…

  • Alejandro Kirk has joined the Blue Jays’ Triple-A club in Trenton with the possibility of returning from the injured list as early as July 1, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Kirk must first prove himself ready in Triple-A. After making the team out of spring training, Kirk has been out since May 2nd with a flexor strain. The Jays have also been without starter Danny Jansen for almost three weeks now. Riley Adams, who has three options remaining, will head back to Trenton whenever Kirk is ready.
  • Nick Anderson threw his second bullpen session for the Rays, and he appears on track for an August return. per Adam Berry of MLB.com (via Twitter). Anderson’s value as a bullpen ace is well-known after last year’s breakout campaign — 0.55 ERA in 16 1/3 regular-season innings. The Rays leaned hard on Anderson to get them to the World Series: he appeared in both games of the Wild Card sweep of the Blue Jays, two of the five games in their ALDS win over the Yankees, and three more apiece in the ALCS and World Series.
  • Brendan McKay is in line for a 30-pitch bullpen soon, Berry also notes, and if that goes well, he’ll start to build his strength up to a starter’s workload. McKay last appeared in competitive action in 2019, when he threw 49 innings at the big-league level with a 5.14 ERA/4.03 FIP.
  • The Yankees don’t expect to get Corey Kluber back until August at the earliest, but it could be as late as September, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). Kluber gave the Yankees exactly what they’d hoped in his ten starts: 3.04 ERA/3.77 FIP in 53 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, he also realized their fears when he suffered a shoulder strain that will ultimately knock him out for more than half the year.

 

Nick Anderson Suffers Partial Tear Of Elbow Ligament

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MARCH 26: The Rays have placed Anderson on the 60-day injured list and added righty Andrew Kittredge to their 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Kittredge had an opt-out for the end of camp in the minor league deal he signed with the Rays, but he’ll stay put. He contributed 111 1/3 innings of 4.93 ERA/3.90 SIERA pitching with the Rays from 2017-20.

MARCH 25: The Rays’ bullpen received terrible news Thursday: Right-hander Nick Anderson suffered a partial tear of his elbow ligament and will likely be out until past the All-Star break, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Surgery has not been recommended at this point.

Considering how much the reigning American League champion Rays lean on their bullpen, the loss of Anderson for at least a few months is an especially troubling development. Anderson has been absolutely lights-out dating back to his 2019 debut with Miami, which traded him to Tampa Bay before that season’s deadline.

Now 30 years old, the hard-throwing Anderson was a 32nd-round pick of the Brewers in 2012 who spent time in independent ball before he broke out in the bigs. Anderson owns a stellar 2.77 ERA/2.14 SIERA with a 42.2 percent strikeout rate and a 6.5 percent walk rate across 81 1/3 innings. While Anderson did miss time last year with forearm issues, he dominated over 16 1/3 frames with a measly 0.55 ERA and similarly jaw-dropping strikeout and walk percentages of 44.8 and 5.2, respectively. He wasn’t nearly as successful in the playoffs, in which he surrendered nine earned runs on 16 hits and totaled nine strikeouts against four walks in 14 2/3 innings.

Anderson led the Rays with six saves during the regular season in 2020, but they’ll have to lean on other end-of-game options until at least sometime in the summer. Diego Castillo, Pete Fairbanks, Chaz Roe and Ryan Thompson are among possible solutions for the Rays, whose bullpen – thanks in no small part to Anderson – ranked third in the majors in ERA a year ago.

Yankees Notes: Voit, Anderson, Offseason

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Just about every day in October corresponds with a memorable Yankees postseason moment, and October 11 is no exception.  It was on this day in 1943 that the Yankees clinched their tenth World Series title, defeating the Cardinals in Game Five on the strength of a complete game shutout from starter Spud Chandler.  While the World Series MVP award didn’t exist back in 1943, it’s safe to say that Chandler would have been the winner — the righty tossed complete games in both the first and fifth games of the series, allowing just one earned run over his 18 innings for an 0.50 ERA.  This brilliant performance capped off a dream year for Chandler, who led the American League in ERA, WHIP, K/BB rate, and wins while winning AL MVP honors.

Something of a forgotten star in Yankees history, Chandler was a late bloomer who didn’t make his MLB debut until age 29.  Chandler posted a 2.84 ERA over 1485 innings for New York between 1937-47 (missing most of 1944 and 1945 while serving in World War II), and had a sterling resume that included four All-Star appearances, two league ERA titles, three World Series rings, and that AL MVP award.

Some items on the modern-day Yankees…

  • Luke Voit will undergo an MRI on his foot today, as the slugger told reporters following the Yankees’ Game Five loss to the Rays on Friday.  While the MRI will reveal the specifics, Voit described his issue as a “classic case of plantar fasciitis.”  Voit’s lack of mobility became more apparent down the stretch, though he had apparently been dealing with the foot problem for much of the season, not that it stopped him from hitting .277/.338/.610 with a league-best 22 homers.
  • There has already been much speculation about how the Yankees will respond to their ALDS loss, though SNY.tv’s Andy Martino doesn’t believe any major free agent spending is in the works due to revenue losses from the 2020 season.  Since spending around baseball is expected to be down this offseason, Martino believes this benefits a Yankees organization that has been adept at finding and developing hidden-gem players in trades and signings.  Of course, the challenge is that the Rays have also been experts in this arena, and Martino notes that the Yankees and Rays have been mutually interested in some of each other’s players.  For instance, the Yankees had interest in Nick Anderson in 2018, before Anderson had even debuted in the majors and before Tampa Bay acquired the ace reliever from the Marlins in July 2019.  Likewise, the Rays looked into a deal for Mike Tauchman back when the outfielder was with the Rockies, prior to Tauchman’s trade to New York in March 2019.
  • Something of a contrast to Martino’s opinion is provided by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who also believes the Yankees won’t spend much, and in fact might look to get payroll under the $210MM luxury tax threshold to avoid a third straight year of an escalating tax bill.  The one splurge Sherman figures the Yankees “pretty much have to” make is re-signing DJ LeMahieu, given the infielder’s overall importance to the team over the last two seasons.  But, in order to address roster issues like defense and an overload of right-handed hitting, Sherman suggests that Voit or Gleyber Torres could become trade chips to acquire some left-handed pop or some extra pitching depth.  New York would then need a shortstop to replace Torres, and Sherman suggests the team pick up a one-year rental in advance of signing one of the many star shortstops projected to be available in the 2021-22 free agent market.

Rays Activate Nick Anderson, Move Jose Alvarado To 45-Day IL

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The Rays announced that they’ve reinstated reliever Nick Anderson from the 10-day injured list and outfielder Brett Phillips from the COVID-19 IL. The team also moved left-hander Jose Alvarado to the 45-day IL and optioned fellow southpaw Ryan Sherriff to its alternate site.

The Rays dodged a major injury with Anderson, who went on the IL on Aug. 23 with inflammation in his right forearm. The Rays continued to roll without Anderson, though, and at 26-12, they own a comfortable five-game lead over the Blue Jays and Yankees in the American League East. Still, they’ll be glad to welcome back the valuable Anderson, who broke out a year ago between the Marlins and Rays and has remained among the game’s top relievers this season. Anderson hasn’t allowed a run through 9 1/3 innings in 2020 and has posted 15 strikeouts against a single walk.

While Anderson’s comeback is welcome news for the Rays’ bullpen, it’s unfortunate for the club that it will go without Alvarado through the end of the regular season. The hard-throwing 25-year-old landed on the IL on Aug. 15 with shoulder inflammation, ending a second straight limited season of mediocre production for the reliever. Alvarado was terrific for the Rays from 2017-18 (especially in the second of those seasons), but he has only logged 39 innings of 5.08 ERA/4.55 FIP pitching with 12.0 K/9 and 7.62 BB/9 dating back to 2019.

Rays Place Nick Anderson On Injured List With Forearm Inflammation

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10:48 am: Both Anderson and manager Kevin Cash downplayed the severity of the injury this morning (via Topkin). The hurler says he’s 99.0% certain it isn’t major, while Cash said initial evaluations were “very encouraging,” so the club doesn’t anticipate a long-term absence.

9:45 am: Elite Rays reliever Nick Anderson is headed to the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right (throwing) forearm, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com (Twitter link). Fellow reliever Edgar García, acquired this week from the Phillies, has been recalled to replace Anderson on the active roster, adds Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Anderson’s IL placement is retroactive to August 20.

The late-blooming Anderson may not be a household name, but he’s emerged as one of the sport’s top late-inning arms over the past two years. As a 29-year-old rookie, he shined with the Marlins, prompting the Rays to send top prospect Jesús Sánchez and reliever Ryne Stanek to Miami for Anderson and right-hander Trevor Richards. Since the trade, he’s doubled down on that initial success.

Now 30, Anderson is off to one of the best starts to this season among relievers. In 9.1 scoreless innings across eleven games, he’s struck out fifteen against just one walk. That lowered his career ERA to 2.91 in 74.1 innings, with a sparkling 2.09 FIP backing up that stout run prevention.

Needless to say, an extended absence for their top reliever would be a big blow to a Rays’ staff that just lost starting pitcher Yonny Chirinos to Tommy John surgery. Forearm injuries can sometimes portend elbow surgery for pitchers, but there’s no indication a surgical procedure is under consideration in Anderson’s case. Tampa has not provided a timetable for his return.

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