Brewers trade Chase Anderson to Blue Jays for Chad Spanberger
The Milwaukee Brewers traded right-handed pitcher Chase Anderson to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday for Double-A first baseman and outfielder Chad Spanberger.
Anderson was 8-4 with a 4.21 ERA in 27 starts and five relief appearances. Milwaukee had planned to decline his $8.5 million option, which would have made him eligible for salary arbitration.
Anderson, 31, was 38-27 with a 3.38 ERA in 166 appearances over four seasons with the Brewers, who acquired him with infielders Aaron Hill and Isan Diaz from Arizona in January 2016 for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner.
Anderson went 12-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 2017 and signed an $11.75 million, two-year contract with a pair of club options.
"Given there was a team that clearly had interest in him and we were able to get back a prospect that we liked, we thought it was the right move to make," Stearns said.
Spanberger, a first baseman and outfielder, hit .237 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs this season at Double-A New Hampshire. Selected by Colorado in the sixth round of the 2017 amateur draft, he was acquired by Toronto in the July 2018 trade that sent reliever Seunghwan Oh to Colorado.
"We think he fills in nicely at the upper levels of the minor league system," Stearns said.