Spring Training Surprises

Spring Training, people call it the MLB version of the NFL's Pre-season. The only reason we have it is to see if a bunch of guys who were bagging groceries can still play baseball. Looking at th guys who got non-roster invitees, I see a couple of guys that can make there way onto the 25-man.

Brian Anderson is a lefty throwing righty batting pitcher from Portsmouth, VA. Looking at his stats, its nothing special, on his good days, he seems to do better as a reliever than a starter, on his bad days when he starts, hes like Dewon Brazelton. It doesn't look like he'll make it to consideration of being in the rotation, but another lefty in the pen would help, and Joe Maddon doesn't want to put J.P. Howell in there anytime soon.

Chris Richard, this guy has been traded for some semi-big names in the past. In 2000 he was traded to Baltimore from St.Louis for Mike Timlin. Back in March of 2003, he was traded to the Rockies for Jack Cust. This guy is a converted 1B turned outfielder when they couldn't use him with Helton at 1st. He hasnt played a major league game since 03. But he played pretty well in Durham, batted .284 with 14 HR's and 57 RBI's in 102 games, he may be needed if Ruggy or Gomes gets hurt in the near future.