Twins Claim RHP Jack Anderson from Red Sox

[Seth Stohs]

Jack Anderson became available when the Red Sox DFAd him earlier in the week. He debuted for Boston in mid-April and pitched in three big-league games. He had two walks and six strikeouts, along with three earned runs over eight innings. At Triple-A Worcester, he was 2-4 with a 4.81 ERA this year. In 58 innings, he walked 21 and had 51 strikeouts. 

Anderson grew up in Tampa. He was the 16th round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 2021 after playing at Florida State. He spent four seasons with the Tigers organization and the 2025 and 2026 seasons with the Red Sox. 

Fun Fact: He pitched three innings in the 2026 World Baseball Classic for the team from Great Britain. He struck out three batters and gave up one run over three innings. 

He will start by being optioned to the Saints. 

 

Lefty Anthony Banda was moved to the 60-Day Injured List to make room for Anderson on the 40-man roster.  Banda had surgery recently on his left lat. Very likely to miss the remainder of the season. 

Anderson throws five pitches. He throws a four-seam fastball 36.3% of the time. It averages just 90.4 mph. He throws a split finger (22.6%, 81.4 mph) and a slider (21%, 82.6mph). He also throws a sweeper (12.1%, 78.1 mph) and a curveball (8.1% 77.2mph). 

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[wesnewy]

A lot of things are better than what we have in our BP, but isn’t this just another team’s table scraps again, and a bad team at that?

[ashbury]

Looks like a strategy consistent with the acquisition of Tommy Vance from Toronto: pick a team with a good bullpen this year, scan for a guy with a very low leverage index (meaning he's not often in a close game), get him cheaply and then see if there's a diamond in the rough that the other  team just never had the opportunity to make the best use of due to better options already.

Bottom feeding is not my preference, but given that the Twins painted themselves into a corner with their bullpen moves (or lack of them) the past 12 months, and apparently don't want to invest prospect capital in upgrades at the bottom of the bullpen, this isn't a crazy approach.

Long way to the trade deadline, which may inform us how these little moves fit into some Go-Big-Or-Go-Home narrative.  Or maybe, this will be the blueprint for all of July.

[Rosterman]

Grabbing guys requiring a 40-man spot. Gotta play them at some point or lose them. They are better than “who” that you have developed as prospects?

[Permanent Twins Fan]

At least he is young

[stringer bell]

Best wishes. He would be seem to be a better bet than what is left at St. Paul, with the possible exception of CJ Culpepper. 

[Danchat]

With a 40 man spot open, I have no problems claiming a 26 year old with 3 option years left. Stop having him pitch 3-4 innings at a time and see what happens when he's a one inning only reliever. Seems like he is an AAAA arm, but his career numbers at AAA aren't that good to begin with. Probably a guy who gets DFA'd in a month or two.

[Brandon]

If it's free then it's me!  Can't really complain about free when we have the roster space and he will be in AAA while our almost free options get a try.  

[twinstalker]

4 hours ago, wesnewy said:

A lot of things are better than what we have in our BP, but isn’t this just another team’s table scraps again, and a bad team at that?

Boston's table scraps are pretty good right now, though I still doubt they'd let him go if he could really help.  They might have had a numbers problem, but keep in mind half the teams could have claimed him before us.

[Vanimal46]

Another old friend was DFA’d from the Red Sox. We could actually use another LH option in the pen. 

[David HK]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

Looks like a strategy consistent with the acquisition of Tommy Vance from Toronto: pick a team with a good bullpen this year, scan for a guy with a very low leverage index (meaning he's not often in a close game), get him cheaply and then see if there's a diamond in the rough that the other  team just never had the opportunity to make the best use of due to better options already.

Bottom feeding is not my preference, but given that the Twins painted themselves into a corner with their bullpen moves (or lack of them) the past 12 months, and apparently don't want to invest prospect capital in upgrades at the bottom of the bullpen, this isn't a crazy approach.

Long way to the trade deadline, which may inform us how these little moves fit into some Go-Big-Or-Go-Home narrative.  Or maybe, this will be the blueprint for all of July.

Bottom feeding has been the blueprint all year.  We're gonna be in a hell of a lotta trouble if someone releases a big old carp into the BP area. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

21 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Another old friend was DFA’d from the Red Sox. We could actually use another LH option in the pen. 

I'll take him over Fundy.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Nothing to see here. They hit on Gomez. The rest are a revolving door. 

[Hubie29]

Who?

[Linus]

20 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I'll take him over Fundy.

Every day of the week. 

[jaimedude]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

Another old friend was DFA’d from the Red Sox. We could actually use another LH option in the pen. 

Coulumbe could help us. 

[mrtwinsfan]

6 hours ago, wesnewy said:

A lot of things are better than what we have in our BP, but isn’t this just another team’s table scraps again, and a bad team at that?

[darin617]

1 hour ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Nothing to see here. They hit on Gomez. The rest are a revolving door. 

You don't know if you don't give them a try. It's worth a gamble and sometimes it pays off. Who cares if it takes 10 waiver claims to find 1 that sticks. 

Low risk with a chance for a player.

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, wesnewy said:

isn’t this just another team’s table scraps again, and a bad team at that?

Boston's problems stem from their offense - second fewest runs scored in the AL. 

Their team ERA is pretty good, and their bullpen in particular is second in the AL.  Scraps yes, but their scraps might be better than what's on the Twins' table.

[TJSweens]

Lions bring down the water buffalo.

Hyenas clean up the left overs.

Vultures clean up the entrails.

Twins come along and say...hey they left some gristle!

[sstolen]

13 hours ago, Rosterman said:

Grabbing guys requiring a 40-man spot. Gotta play them at some point or lose them. They are better than “who” that you have developed as prospects?

Eat Innings...dont waste them on prospects right now. "Better" is relative.

Mgt has done an ok job w an ok roster this season. Theyre the experts ont us

[JD-TWINS]

11 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Another old friend was DFA’d from the Red Sox. We could actually use another LH option in the pen. 

Can always use a good pitcher but lefty need isn’t real strong (Rogers, Rojas, & Funderburk)……… for Red Sox to drop him, they have to think he’s washed in the short term……..doubt anyone picks him up until later in the month to give him a try, so he’s eligible for post-season……if he’s pitching better.

[JD-TWINS]

How many here thought Gomez wasn’t just another “scraps pick-up”???

Now, he’s the closer and 95% of people here hope for him to appear because Team has a chance to Win!

Picking a guy up is normal for all organizations ……. it’s not any different than drafting a guy to then try and develop him….,.I don’t get anyone caring about this pick-up at all. Guys can be moved off 40-man just as easily as they are added. No big deal — fingers crossed, he works his way to Target!

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Let’s be clear the Twins are just trying to find relievers they can tweak a bit and give opportunity to see if can be a decent reliever. Gomez was an absolute find and appears to have long term potential.  Who knows on this reliever and Coloumbe seems to be a guaranteed pickup in my opinion.  Solidify the bullpen some more before the trade deadline and then see what’s available. 

[jaimedude]

4 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Can always use a good pitcher but lefty need isn’t real strong (Rogers, Rojas, & Funderburk)……… for Red Sox to drop him, they have to think he’s washed in the short term……..doubt anyone picks him up until later in the month to give him a try, so he’s eligible for post-season……if he’s pitching better.

I think it is not wanting to pay his contract incentives. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

I think the team is doing exactly what they should do with respect to the bullpen. The Twins are over performing what was expected in a down year for the rest of the league. That creates opportunity. We need a better bullpen. So what they’re doing is grabbing guys now while there’s still three weeks to look at them before we have to trade for a bull pen help. Bullpen arms are very expensive in terms of prospect cost at the deadline. You wind up trading one of your top 10 prospects for a slightly above average MLB reliever and that reliever is usually over 30. If you trade someone in the 15–30 range you get a guy that is 35 or older and is usually a free agent at the end of the season That’s trading a lot for not very much. 
 

The better route to Shore up your bullpen is get a guy you think you can tweak a little to improve, if you can find that guy, and if you can make the tweaks, or someone who is being dropped for contract reasons. That’s why you pick up a Jack Anderson, Go, or Nance, or you pick up Danny Coulombe because Boston doesn’t want to pay his contract incentives since their bullpen is very good. You pay the contract incentives because your pen isn’t very good. Coulombe is more valuable to the Twins than he is to the Red Sox so we’re willing to pay and they don’t have to. You start there while you’ve got a few weeks to figure out if these guys are enough to get you over the hump. If they aren’t, then at the end of the month, you trade for another reliever and give up the prospects you would rather keep. 

I’m actually encouraged by what the front office is doing. They are actually trying to improve the team. I think the players see it. Royce Lewis was at the press conference that introduced Nance so he could introduce himself and he mentioned that he had Buxton talked about it and were excited by the acquisition. That’s how you take a good thing and make it better and that’s how you keep players around, you show them you’re willing to invest in them. This is actually competent management. It’s weird to see from this team, but I think it’s actually happening. 

[Linus]

4 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Can always use a good pitcher but lefty need isn’t real strong (Rogers, Rojas, & Funderburk)……… for Red Sox to drop him, they have to think he’s washed in the short term……..doubt anyone picks him up until later in the month to give him a try, so he’s eligible for post-season……if he’s pitching better.

The need for a good lefty is plenty strong

[Danchat]

16 hours ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I'll take him over Fundy.

That seems reasonable, but looking into Coulombe's stats this year... he's been every bit as bad as Funderburk. Kody has a gross 5.9 K/9 to a 6.3 BB/9, but Coulombe is somehow at 4.1 K/9 to 6.1 BB/9. Yikes!

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

I think the team is doing exactly what they should do with respect to the bullpen. The Twins are over performing what was expected in a down year for the rest of the league. That creates opportunity. We need a better bullpen. So what they’re doing is grabbing guys now while there’s still three weeks to look at them before we have to trade for a bull pen help. Bullpen arms are very expensive in terms of prospect cost at the deadline. You wind up trading one of your top 10 prospects for a slightly above average MLB reliever and that reliever is usually over 30. If you trade someone in the 15–30 range you get a guy that is 35 or older and is usually a free agent at the end of the season That’s trading a lot for not very much. 
 

The better route to Shore up your bullpen is get a guy you think you can tweak a little to improve, if you can find that guy, and if you can make the tweaks, or someone who is being dropped for contract reasons. That’s why you pick up a Jack Anderson, Go, or Nance, or you pick up Danny Coulombe because Boston doesn’t want to pay his contract incentives since their bullpen is very good. You pay the contract incentives because your pen isn’t very good. Coulombe is more valuable to the Twins than he is to the Red Sox so we’re willing to pay and they don’t have to. You start there while you’ve got a few weeks to figure out if these guys are enough to get you over the hump. If they aren’t, then at the end of the month, you trade for another reliever and give up the prospects you would rather keep. 

I’m actually encouraged by what the front office is doing. They are actually trying to improve the team. I think the players see it. Royce Lewis was at the press conference that introduced Nance so he could introduce himself and he mentioned that he had Buxton talked about it and were excited by the acquisition. That’s how you take a good thing and make it better and that’s how you keep players around, you show them you’re willing to invest in them. This is actually competent management. It’s weird to see from this team, but I think it’s actually happening. 

The FO is doing a competent job, given the constraints placed by ownership's vision during last off-season.  That's as far as I'm willing to go in singing their praises.

[HarmonK03]

10 minutes ago, ashbury said:

The FO is doing a competent job, given the constraints placed by ownership's vision during last off-season.  That's as far as I'm willing to go in singing their praises.

Falvey had at least $14m to spend and he chose to spend nothing on the bullpen, that is not on ownership.  And instead he signed Bell to be the first baseman and Caratini to be the backup catcher after he had signed Jackson for the same role.  At the time those signings were very much head scratchers as they did not fill immediate needs.

Now you could say ownership could have given a higher payroll but how do we know how Falvey would have allocated those resources.  Falvey has never valued the bullpen thinking he is smarter than everyone else and can always find someone to fill the role.  And now Zoll is doing the same thing.  The only good thing about this signing is at least he is younger and there still might be something there to unlock.  But it has been primarily a string of late 20's or 30 somethings that multiple teams have been unable to lock but yet we think we could.