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| Tim Anderson |
The Sox on Saturday announced that they declined the $14 million club option on Anderson for the 2024 season. Instead, they bought him out for $1 million. He is a free agent.
Anderson played for the Sox for eight seasons, and in many ways, his South Side tenure was a victory. Quite a few of the franchise's first-round draft picks have amounted to little, but Anderson was far from a bust.
He had three excellent seasons between 2019 and 2021, batting over .300 in every one of those years. He won the American League batting title in 2019 with a .335 average.
In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he won an AL Silver Slugger award after posting a .322/.357/.529 slash line. Following that season, he finished seventh in the AL MVP voting.
His game-winning homer in the 2021 Field of Dreams Game is one of the franchise's signature moments.
Anderson twice made the All-Star team -- 2021 and 2022 -- and he started at shortstop for the AL in the 2022 midsummer classic. He also represented Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
However, professional sports is "What have you done for me lately?" Anderson slumped badly the second half of the 2022 season and had the worst year of his career in 2023.
He batted a terrible .245/.286/.296 in 2023, and unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though this is a one-year anomaly. Dating back to June 2022, Anderson is batting .246/.286/.295. At some point, it's no longer a slump, and that's who you are now.
In 524 plate appearances in 2023, Anderson hit only one home run. Injuries have mounted, as he hasn't played more than 123 games in any of the past five seasons. And his defense? Oh boy. His SABR defensive index for 2023 was negative-7.3. I don't always know how they calculate that stuff, but that figure is bad, and the eye test tells us that Anderson's glove is in severe decline.
You add all this up, and the end result is the Sox parting ways with a player who will turn 31 next season.
I know what some are saying: How could the Sox lose Anderson for nothing? Well, I don't think there's a huge market for a shortstop who is no longer playing well in any aspect of the game.
On Friday, as expected, the Sox announced they were declining their 2024 team option on Liam Hendriks. They also announced that pitcher Mike Clevinger is opting out of his 2024 contract and electing free agency.
It was notable that announcements were made about those two players at the same time, while nothing was said about Anderson.
On Friday, I thought to myself that one of two things must be true: 1) The Sox were planning to retain Anderson, or 2) The Sox were trying to trade Anderson.
Thought No. 2 was correct.
If you've been following the transaction wire, you might have noticed the Milwaukee Brewers traded outfielder Mark Canha to the Detroit Tigers for a prospect. The Brewers decided they did not want to pick up Canha's $11.5 million option for 2024, so they moved him to the Tigers, who were willing to pick up the option.
I believe the Sox spent Friday trying to work out a similar deal for Anderson, but they found no team willing to take him at a price of $14 million. So, they chose to cut ties.
Honestly, that's the right thing for general manager Chris Getz to do if he wants someone other than Anderson to be his shortstop in 2024. The whole idea of picking up Anderson's option and then trying to trade him is an accident waiting to happen.
It takes a willing trade partner to swing a deal, and there's a strong chance that there is no such partner, especially given the contract involved. Then you run the risk of going into next season with an unhappy player who knows he isn't wanted. That's the worst-case scenario.
There's always a chance that Anderson will re-sign in Chicago for less money later in the offseason, but the guess here is this is a permanent goodbye. I expect someone else at shortstop for the Sox when the 2024 season begins.
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