SAN DIEGO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The San Diego Padres have given 38-year-old outfielder Brady Anderson an opportunity to continue a career that many thought was over last season.
The Padres on Monday signed Anderson and righthander Carlton Loewer to minor league contracts. Anderson, who played in only 34 games with the Cleveland Indians last year after spending the previous 14 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, received an invitation to spring training.
Anderson hit a franchise-record 50 home runs as a leadoff hitter for the Orioles in 1996 but has been in steady decline since. In his last full season in 2001, he batted just .202 with eight homers and 45 RBI in 131 games for Baltimore.
Anderson is a career .256 hitter with 210 homers and 761 RBI. A three-time All-Star, he is the Orioles' all-time stolen base leader (307) and ranks second all-time to Rickey Henderson in leadoff homers with 44.
Loewer, 29, missed the entire 2002 season after breaking his left leg and suffering a dislocated left ankle in an offseason hunting accident. In 2001, he made just two appearances for San Diego, going 0-2 with a 24.92 ERA.
Acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in November 1999, Loewer has a career record of 9-16 with a 6.06 ERA in 43 appearances - 36 starts - for the Phillies and Padres.
