I think most people who take a layman’s scan of Garret Anderson’s stats will react to his signing as nothing but good news for the ‘09 Braves season. While at the tail end of his career, the 36 year old has a career .296 BA over a very flat 15 year arc — .293 last year and .297 the year before. And unlike Ken Griffey Jr., Anderson has been surprisingly healthy. Three of the last four seasons Anderson has played over 140 games. So at first glance, the one year $2.5 million contract the Braves are giving Anderson may seem like a solid buy – exactly what we need to shore up the outfield for a year before bringing in a franchise hitter. But as saber-heads will tell you, BA doesn’t come close to telling the whole story about a player. As Mac Thomason has pointed out on Braves Journal, Anderson simply doesn’t draw walks. When you look at his OPS+, his ‘On Base plus Slugging’ percentage measured against the league average, Anderson is squarely in the average and below-average category barring outstanding seasons in ‘02 and ‘03. Also – over the past five seasons he’s averaged just under 16 homers – not exactly numbers of a big bat that’s going to knock in runs. While better than the abysmal numbers Atlanta’s outfield put up in ‘08, it may be too much to expect that Garret Anderson will be the the missing piece that will put the Braves back in the playoffs.