When the Los Angeles Dodgers rounded out their starting rotation by signing Brett Anderson in December 2014 many doubted the ‘injury-prone’ southpaw would make it through the 2015 season as the club’s fifth starter.
All he proceeded to do was remain a model of health while Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu underwent season-ending surgeries. Anderson set career highs in starts (31) and innings pitched (180.1).
He finished the season 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 1.33 WHIP and led the Majors with a 66.3 ground ball percentage.
Coming off a season in which he earned a base salary of $10 million and an additional $2.4 million on performance bonuses, he accepted the one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer during the winter.
Anderson admitted to taking a gamble on himself to remain healthy and test free agency after this season. That decision backfired when he was forced to undergo surgery in early March.
A three-to-five-month timeline was set and his recovery had largely been off the radar until recently. According to Andy McCullough of the LA Times, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Anderson is expected to begin a rehab assignment:
After completing a three-inning simulated game this weekend, Brett Anderson (back surgery) is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment Thursday, Roberts said. Roberts suggested Anderson probably would begin with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, but was unsure his exact destination.
Roberts previously projected the 28-year-old would return at some point in August. What state the Dodgers rotation will be in when Anderson is reinstated from the disabled list is largely a question mark.
Clayton Kershaw remains sidelined by back pain and Ryu is currently on the DL with tendinitis in his left elbow. A timetable for either lefty hasn’t been publicly released. Then the Dodgers are of course said to be scouring the trade market for a starter prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.
