As Anderson comes in, Arruebarrena goes out

Happy New Year!

With my first post of 2015, here's some news about the ever-changing roster. 

First of all, Brett Anderson has been officially signed to a one-year deal worth $10 million, plus another $4 in incentives.  This has been in the works for over a couple of weeks, but due to the holiday season, it's taken awhile to dry the ink.

Anderson, a lefty who pitched for the Rockies last season, slides into the rotation as the team's new #5 starter behind Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and newly signed Brandon McCarthy. 

While Anderson posted a great ERA of 2.91 last season, it was done making only eight starts due to a variety of injuries.  The word "injury" has pretty much followed his career, as he was a promising rookie with the A's back in 2009, going 11-11 with a 4.06 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.  After that, it was one trip to the DL after another.

The Dodgers must not be too concerned about his injury history, as they're willing to give him a shot.  GM Farhan Zaidi pointed out that management chose to spend $22 million on McCarthy and Anderson to fill out the back end of the rotation this year rather than go for broke on another ace like James Shield or Max Scherzer.  Considering the money that's been spent on Kershaw and Greinke in the past, you can't blame them for choosing this strategy.

With one man's arrival means another man's departure, and in this case, it's Arruebarrena.  His DFA did come as a surprise, as it was all of one year ago when then-GM Ned Colletti signed him for five years and $25 million.  And with the way the deal was structured, there's still $22 million left on it.  That's a whole lot of dough to just wave goodbye to.

But then again, is Arruebarrena really going away?  I doubt it.  Barring a trade, I can't imagine any other team wanting to pick up that contract for a guy who flat out cannot hit.  Sure, he has an amazing glove, and is about as smooth as it gets at short.  But when you have 41 at-bats and collect only eight hits (.195), it's hard to feel confident that he's the shortstop of the future.

With that said, considering the wheeling and dealing the Dodgers have done this offseason, look for a possible trade with Arruebarrena in the near future.