Chase Anderson File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Milwaukee Brewers exercised club options for $8.5 million on pitcher Chase Anderson and $7.5 million on first baseman Eric Thames on Monday. They traded Anderson to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league 1B/OF Chad Spanberger. They payed a $1 million buyout to Thames.
The Brewers also exercised an option on catcher Manny Pina for $1.85 million for 2020.
The moves clear around $15 million off the books for the coming season.
Anderson went 8-4 with a 4.21 ERA over 139 innings last season. He spent four seasons with the Brewers, going 38-27 with a 3.83 ERA in 118 games (112 starts).
The 24-year-old Spanberger has hit 59 home runs in 305 minor-league games, including 13 homers and a .237 average with Class AA New Hampshire this past season.
Thames played in 149 games last season for the Brewers, hitting .247 with a .346 OBP and .505 slugging percentage with 25 home runs and 61 RBI. The Brewers say they’re not closing the door on bringing Thames back, but it would be for considerably less money.
The Brewers already have two other starters from last years team that have become free agents, Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal.