Of Playoff Rosters and Men II

Vince Femenella asked a highly topical question about playoff rosters. It turns out that Brian Anderson of the (likely) playoff-bound Arizona Diamondbacks broke a bone in his foot the very next day and is probably out for the year.

Anderson would likely be the D-Backs fifth starter behind Johnson, Schilling, Batiste, and Helling, if they carried him on the playoff roster at all. He was 6-11 with a 4.79 ERA after all. He did improve slightly in the second half (4.39 ERA). Last year he was 4-9 with a 5.20 ERA and again a fifth starter, and the D-Backs took him to the playoffs as a long reliever-he even won a game in the NLCS.

I would think that Brenly would probably have taken him again given the stiffs in the bullpen and his left-handedness. If so, they Diamondbacks have an open roster spot. The only other starters used this year are rookie John Patterson and Todd Stottlemyre, who is out for the season. Patterson was not on the roster on August 31 but was recalled in September and has pitched a little. The may be allowed to Patterson in lieu of Anderson. Given that Arizona's bullpen is filled out with a bunch of stiffs, it's hard to tell if they would prefer the rookie over the washed-up veterans (Morgan, Swindell, Myers, and Mantei, at least two of whom will presumably go anyway to accompany Kim, Koplove, and Fetters). Patterson has only pitched in 5 games and is a righty, which hurts his chances. But it would be interesting to see if a) they are allowed to add him-technically Anderson has not been placed on the 60-day DL and besides got hurt after the trade deadline-and b) they would add him. Since the playoff rosters are seemingly sealed until the playoffs begin, we may have to wait a week anyway.