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3 underrated offseason additions

Daniel Shirey / USA TODAY Sports

After a flurry of activity at the winter meetings, rosters are beginning to take shape as general managers continue to tinker in an effort to improve their respective clubs.

Here are three underrated offseason moves to this point:

Royals sign Kris Medlen to two-year contract

The crafty right-hander is still recovering from Tommy John surgery, making this signing a gamble for general manager Dayton Moore. However, the move has tremendous upside and Moore was smart to sign Medlen to an incentive-laden contract. Medlen may not return until the second half of the 2015 campaign, but the $2 million he'll make is an absolute bargain.

Here's a look at Medlen's numbers since transitioning from the bullpen to starting rotation:

Year W/L ERA WHIP K/9 WAR
2012 10-1 1.57 0.91 7.8 4.5
2013 15-12 3.11 1.22 7.2 3.3

Medlen's salary gets bumped up to $5.5 million in 2016 and a mutual option is in place for 2017 with a $1-million buyout. He can also earn an additional $9.5 million over the two years with incentives. If Medlen can recapture his effectiveness prior to the surgery and regain his confidence as a front-end starter, this signing could be the best of the winter.

Dodgers sign Brett Anderson to one-year deal

The Los Angeles Dodgers have nothing to lose and everything to gain by inking the oft-injured Anderson to a one-year, $10-million deal. Although the dollar value seems high, the short-term commitment balances the contract. Reigning National League Cy Young Award winner and MVP Clayton Kershaw has described Anderson as having "probably the best stuff in baseball." That's high praise coming from the most dominant pitcher in the game.

The 26-year-old has gone 27-32 with a 3.73 ERA in 92 games in six major league seasons with the Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies. What's really impressive about Anderson, though, is his 61.4 percent ground-ball rate over the past three campaigns. Anderson was limited to eight starts for the Rockies due to a broken left index finger, but yielded just one home run and allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven of those outings.

Indians trade for Brandon Moss

The Cleveland Indians are perhaps the most underrated team in baseball, so it's ironic they traded for one of the most underrated players. Moss had a monster first half in 2014, batting .268 with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs to earn first-time All-Star honors. But a hip injury slowed him down the stretch, resulting in offseason surgery. The 31-year-old slashed .254/.340/.504 over his three years in Oakland and he's under team control for two more seasons.

The addition of Moss acts as insurance for the declining numbers and health of Nick Swisher, who is rumored to be on the trade block. Moss, like Swisher, hits left-handed, but fares much better against southpaws. Moss boasts an identical .248 career average against both right-handed and left-handed pitching, while Swisher hit a miserable .168 against lefties a year ago. The big challenge for Moss this year will be stacking up against southpaws such as David Price, Chris Sale and Danny Duffy in the American League Central on a more frequent basis.

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