Brett Anderson officially rejoined the Oakland A’s more than 13 months after his July 14, 2011 Tommy John surgery, and he will start Tuesday night’s game.
The team will welcome another newcomer Tuesday — the A’s acquired shortstop Stephen Drew from Arizona during their 7-2 loss to the Twins on Monday night. Drew, a free agent after the season, was acquired for Class A infielder Sean Jamieson.
Since coming back from a broken ankle that cost him nearly a year, Drew is hitting .193 in 40 games. Oakland’s shortstops are batting a combined .187.
Drew also played for Oakland manager Bob Melvin at Arizona, and he hit .387 with two homers in seven playoff games for Melvin’s 2007 team.
Anderson’s 30-day rehab assignment ended Monday, and the A’s activated him from the 60-day DL and optioned right-hander Dan Straily to Triple-A Sacramento.
This was no indictment of Straily, who pitched well enough to stick in the rotation, going 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA. And he’s likely to be back when rosters expand Sept. 1.
Until that point, however, the A’s couldn’t afford to have a six-man rotation and go short on the bench, especially with outfielder Seth Smith (hamstring) a strong possibility to come off the DL on Tuesday.
Oakland likely will shed one of its eight relievers at that point, and to have a six-man rotation, the team would have to either go with a six-man bullpen (no chance) or a three-man bench. Considering the A’s have a platoon at first base and at DH, that would be pretty much impossible.
Anderson will not be on any more of a pitch count than the rest of Oakland’s starters, who generally are kept in the 100-105 range. He threw 96 pitches in his final outing at Triple-A Sacramento.
The A’s are likely to get another starter back soon, too; A.J. Griffin (shoulder strain) will make a rehab start with Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday and, like Straily, he could be added when rosters expand.