Garret Anderson should be able to play another four
years, according to agent Scott Boras, who added that any team that signs the
36-year-old outfielder to a deal that long will get to see him collect his
3,000th career hit in its uniform.
"He's in the class of player where he gets a chance to
get 3,000 hits like Tony Gwynn," Boras said. "This guy's four years away."
Boras was recently hired by Anderson, who had his $14-million option for next season bought
out for $3 million by the Angels. The influential agent said that Anderson had been working
at the Boras Sports Training Institute, which is at Soka University of America
in Aliso Viejo.
"He wants to play every day," Boras said.
Anderson is 632 hits away from 3,000, meaning he would have to average 158 hits per
season to hit the milestone.
He averaged 151 hits per season over the four-year,
$48-million deal he completed this year. He had only 124 hits in 2007, when hip
problems limited him to 108 games. He averaged 159 hits and 143 games over the
other three years of that deal, which was signed in April 2004.
Boras said that Anderson's defensive
acumen should allow him to be an everyday outfielder for a National League
team. But Anderson
played increasingly as a designated hitter over the last four years, averaging
40 games per season in that role.
