30 A's in 30 Days – Brett Anderson

Acquired: Traded from Arizona (with 1B Chris Carter, SP Dana Eveland, SP Greg Smith, OF Aaron Cunningham and OF Carlos Gonzalez) for SP Dan Haren (December 14, 2007).
Contract: One year thru 2010.
Position: Starting pitcher, ace in waiting.

Projected ERA: 4.04

Over/Under: After Anderson's first 18 Major League starts in 2009, his ERA stood at 5.45. On July 6, he became the first rookie LHP to shut out the Red Sox at Fenway in 20 years. Including that start, Anderson took the mound 16 more times on the season and recorded an ERA of 3.03. Seven of those starts were against eventual AL playoff teams. I'm taking the UNDER on that projection.

I'm sure the league will catch up to him a bit, but Anderson's mound presence and demeanor remind me of former Oakland SP Mike Moore. Neither guy looked intimidating – Moore was tall and gawky, while Anderson's build sways slightly towards Stay-Puft – but, both could be simply filthy when everything was working. It was bad enough that Anderson finished sixth in last year's Rookie of the Year balloting, but that he finished three places behind Tigers SP Rick Porcello… Let's agree to call it Bud Selig's darkest hour.

By the Numbers: -3, -7, +61 – Anderson threw about five more innings than Porcello in 2009. He gave up three fewer home runs, seven fewer walks and struck out 61 more batters. Porcello couldn't even achieve a 2:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Y'know, there ARE teams west of the central time zone, BBWAA!

Surefire 2010 Prediction: In last year's "30 A's…" preview, I predicted that RP Joey Devine would be Oakland's lone All-Star. A few weeks later, Devine would undergo Tommy John surgery. I have to prove to myself that I'm not jinx, so I'm calling Anderson's first All-Star nod in 2010. I'm not worried.

Snoop Dogg Track for the Season: Tha Shiznit