Last season's decision by Brian Anderson to try his hand at pitching appeared, at first glance, to be something near a petulant, career-killing decision. Because he did so as a Royal, it seemed even stranger, as it wasn't like Rick/Dick Ankiel was anything like a sure bet to make it through the season healthy and or untraded (and in fact, he was both injured and then traded as a Royal). And of course, it made Anderson's signing with the Royals an entirely lost cause, a kind of perfect bow on a horrible 2010 pre-season signing barrage by Dayton Moore.
All of that, more or less, still holds. I don't know the ends and outs of Anderson's decision, but you can't help but wonder if, had the team cared, a different outcome could have been secured. Even weirder, the Royals seemed to more or less facilitate Anderson's decision by allowing him to pitch in the team's system. This seems fairly generous, given that there was very little chance that the Royals would benefit from this largesse. You want to go pitch, that's cool. Here's your release, best of luck.
Anyway, Anderson ended up pitching 17.1 innings in 2010, posting a take-it-for-whatever-you-want 2.08 ERA. That included seven decent innings at AAA. Obviously, 2010 was simply a year in which everything in the Royals system would work out. Everything.
This afternoon, while I was enjoying my own career suicide, I found myself listening to a Pirates-Yankees game from Florida. Oh, funny, he's resurfaced with the Pirates, I thought. Nope, actually he's in camp with the Yankees. Anderson had a bad inning (2 hits and a HBP) and was "credited" with the loss. So, anyway, he's still pitching.