Braves trade Ian Anderson to Angels as former No. 3 overall pick’s Atlanta tenure ends

Suarez, like Anderson, is out of options, but he’ll make the Opening Day roster in Atlanta as part of the bullpen. In spring training, Suarez allowed nine runs – eight earned – over 11 innings. He has a 5.47 career ERA over 99 games in the majors – 61 of them starts.

And just like that, Anderson’s time in Atlanta is over. The incredible postseason starts, in which he calmly navigated terrific lineups, are now a past memory. He will have a fresh start in Anaheim, which probably can assure him a roster spot – a nice development for a pitcher who needs to be making consistent starts.

This much is clear: Anderson wasn’t going to make the team, so the Braves traded him and got something back instead of simply putting him on waivers. That it came to this is an indictment of Anderson’s performance this spring.

When a player is out of options, he often has a better chance of making the team out of spring because clubs like to preserve depth. If a player who is out of options doesn’t make the big-league club out of camp, the team must designate him for assignment to get him off the 40-man roster because he cannot be optioned.

This is why Anderson had a strong chance of making the club if he had performed up to par. That did not happen. In 20 Grapefruit League innings, Anderson had a 2.25 ERA, but walked 20 batters and struck out only 10. That is, as you can see, one walk per inning – not good. He had a 1.40 WHIP. The ERA was deceiving.

When asked recently about Anderson, Braves manager Brian Snitker’s answer was, um, telling.

“It’s been command issues, pretty much,” Snitker said. “His numbers say that – and just watching him. Still got some work to do.”

You can never read too much into a manager’s comments. After all, Snitker is asked dozens of questions per day, often about similar topics. But this answer stuck out because Snitker, a manager who always defends his players, was rather blunt. No mention of Anderson’s past success. No look toward Anderson’s future. No talk of a positive with Anderson.

This is because the situation was rather simple: The command, as Snitker said, was poor. It led to the end of Anderson’s time with the Braves, who drafted him almost a decade ago.

The final memories of Anderson will center around his rough spring and the fact that he never pitched for the Braves in the majors after 2022. But his postseason starts will be remembered for quite some time. In eight playoff starts in 2020 and 2021, Anderson posted a 1.26 ERA over 35 2/3 innings. He won Game 3 of the World Series over the Astros with five scoreless innings.

In August 2022, the Braves optioned Anderson to Triple-A Gwinnett amid struggles. At the time, they still had him in their future plans. But in 2023, he required Tommy John surgery. He missed that year, then made it back last season but never pitched in the majors. When the Braves needed a starter for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series in San Diego, they went with AJ Smith-Shawver over Anderson.

The Braves on Sunday optioned Bryce Elder, which points to Smith-Shawver beginning the season in Atlanta’s starting rotation. The Braves also reassigned Jesse Chavez, Craig Kimbrel and James McCann to minor-league camp. Kimbrel and McCann didn’t have a spring training before signing minor-league deals to the Braves late in spring, so both were going to begin at Triple-A Gwinnett regardless.

Recently, Braves president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos dealt lefty reliever Angel Perdomo to his former lieutenant, Angels general manager Perry Minasian. Perdomo was not going to make the team, so Atlanta traded him.

Now, the Braves have dealt Anderson to the Angels, with whom the pitcher might benefit from a fresh start,