Dodgers cut struggling veteran Garret Anderson, call up Jay Gibbons from minors [Updated]

Veteran outfielder Garret Anderson, who has struggled all season to provide the Dodgers with power off the bench, was effectively cut Sunday and the Dodgers purchased the contract of Jay Gibbons from their triple-A Albuquerque team, the Dodgers said.

Anderson, 38, was batting only .181 with two home runs and 12 runs batted in in his 17th big-league season. He was designated for assignment, meaning the Los Angeles native and former star with the Angels was immediately removed from the team's 25-man roster.

Gibbons, a 33-year-old outfielder and first baseman who attended Cal State Los Angeles, spent several years with the Baltimore Orioles but had not played in the major leagues since 2007 after the Mitchell Report linked him with using performance-enhancing human growth hormone.

Gibbons was batting .347 for Albuquerque with 19 home runs and 83 RBIs. He arrived in the Dodgers' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium before their game Sunday afternoon against the Washington Nationals.

[Updated, 3:30 p.m.: Gibbons promptly paid the Dodgers a dividend when his pinch-hit single in the sixth inning drove in a run and widened the Dodgers' lead to 6-3 against the Washington Nationals on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.]

-- Jim Peltz

Photo: Garret Anderson before a game July 5 against the Florida Marlins at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Kirby Lee / Image of Sport-US Presswire

Comments

[Ben]

What took so long???

[Rob]

It's about time!!!

[Dodger Blues]

It sure has been a long 22 years since the Blue Crew won a World Series...

Any billionaires out there interested in owning a MLB team?

[Mungo4Prez]

I say let's show respect for a guy who was one of the top hitters in MLB for over a decade. Double respect for a player who always conducted himself with class and didn't take the easy way out during the steroid era. Good luck GA.

[Rob]

GA was an Angel legend not a Dodger legend. There was no reason he needed to be on the Dodger roster this long.

[bob cuomo]

With all due respect to Anderson, he is not a pinch-hitter. I know he's 38 and has lost a step or two, but he did his damage with the Angels (and last year with the Braves) as a starter. The Dodgers gambled and lost on this one. The question is, why now with only seven weeks left in their season? Sure, Gibbons has put up some impressive numbers at Albuquerque, but that's in the Pacific Coast League, which is a hitter's league...always has been, and probably always will be.

[steve]

maybe commish gordon can cut the mccorts from the dodgers? I hope the Angeles sign GA for one day so he can retire as an angle

[skyharbor]

Have Colletti and Torre become Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum. After Garret Anderson's looooong overdue firing we hear Twiddle Dee say...""We just kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off...." and then Twiddle Dum chimes in profoundly "Everything has its time and place." Its been obvious for some time the the once great Anderson is no longer. Keeping his memory around this long is misplaced kindness. Ned and Joe should channel their charitable efforts into "Think Cure" and not the lineup.

[Humbi]

My dream finally came true. Now why didnt they do this, oh I dont know, about MAY! How funny that the guy they brought up in his place came through in his first at bat. Good riddance GA!