Bradford optioned, Anderson added, Vanasco DFA’d

The Texas Rangers announced today that Cody Bradford has been optioned to AAA Round Rock. To replace him on the active roster, the Rangers have purchased the contract of righthanded pitcher Grant Anderson. To clear space on the 40 man roster for Anderson, the Rangers designated pitcher Ricky Vanasco for assignment.

Bradford came up to make a spot start on Sunday while Dane Dunning was on paternity leave, and I think the expectation had been that Dunning would replace him when Bradford was sent back down. Instead, the Rangers have brought up sidearming righthander Grant Anderson from AAA Round Rock.

The 25 year old Anderson was a 21st round pick of the Seattle Mariners out of McNeese State in 2018. The Rangers acquired him at the start of the 2019 season in exchange for Connor Sadzeck. Anderson split time between Frisco and Round Rock both in 2022 and 2023. He has a 3.54 ERA in 28 innings over 15 appearances this year, striking out 47 of 114 batters and walking 11.

Like most sidearmers he has historically had big platoon splits. He will likely be used, I imagine, to face a handful of righthanded hitters in the middle or late innings.

This leaves open the question of who gets sent down when Dunning returns in the next day or two. I wouldn’t think the Rangers would clear a roster spot for Anderson in order to just send him right back down.

That roster spot was created by DFAing Ricky Vanasco. The 24th rounder in 2017 showed flashes, and had a very good 2019, but has been dogged by injuries. He missed 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and was not real good in his return in 2022. His start to the 2023 season was delayed due to a knee injury suffered in spring training, and in two outings for Frisco since his return he allowed ten runs in 2.1 IP.