Angels Ship Anderson to Indians

Brian Anderson fell out of the starting rotation last September and fell out of favor with the front office this winter. Thursday, he fell off the Angels’ roster, traded to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Jason Grimsley and Pep Harris on the eve of the Angels’ first spring-training workout.

So ended the brief and mercurial Angel career of a left-hander who was the third overall pick of the 1993 draft, was in the major leagues by the end of his first professional season and had the nagging problem of throwing baseballs that wound up in the outfield bleachers.

But those 24 home runs Anderson gave up in 99 2/3 innings last season, including 12 in his last five starts, were only part of the reason the Geneva, Ohio, native will have a chance to pitch for his hometown team in 1996. A contentious contract dispute also paved his road out of Anaheim.

According to Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi, Anderson and his agent, Ron Shapiro, were planning to file a grievance disputing the tendering of Anderson’s 1996 contract.

Bavasi wouldn’t discuss specifics of the grievance, and neither Shapiro nor Anderson, who was traveling to Florida Thursday night, could be reached.

Bavasi, who has been trying to trade Anderson all winter, said the dispute “got heated” in recent weeks. His negotiations with Cleveland centered on starters Chad Ogea and Albie Lopez, but when Bavasi determined Anderson’s presence in camp might be detrimental, he settled for Grimsley, 28, who has shuttled between Cleveland and triple-A Buffalo for three seasons, and Harris, 23, a prospect who played on the double-A and triple-A levels last season.

“I felt we would have won a grievance [against Anderson], but to do that we would have had to fight him, beat him up, and drag him back to camp,” said Bavasi, who has traded the Angels’ 1993 first-round pick and 1994 first-round pick (McKay Christensen) in the past year.

“What do you have then? A guy who you were looking to trade, who’s upset, and who might cause a distraction in the clubhouse. Our team has a good attitude, it’s very focused, and I can’t let that slip away for a guy who is not going to start for us and who may not come out of the bullpen.”

Anderson had a career 13-13 record and 5.46 earned-run average in a little more than two seasons, including a 6-8 record and 5.87 ERA in 1995. But he was hurt by the fact the Angels have three other left-handers in the rotation, Chuck Finley, Mark Langston and Jim Abbott.

In Cleveland, Anderson hopes to crack a rotation that features all right-handers--Dennis Martinez, Jack McDowell, Orel Hershiser, Charles Nagy and either Mark Clark or Ogea.

“He’s ecstatic, it has been a lifelong dream of his to play for the Indians,” Cleveland General Manager John Hart said.

Grimsley, who is signed through 1996 and has a $400,000 salary, began the ’95 season with Cleveland, appearing in 15 games with no record and a 6.09 ERA. He was sent to Buffalo in July and went 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA. Grimsley has averaged 4.8 walks per nine innings for the Indians in the past three seasons.

In Harris, Bavasi believes he landed a quality prospect who will replenish a farm system that sent three pitching prospects to the Chicago White Sox last July in the Abbott deal.