White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson is hoping for a healthier season after a torn tendon in his left middle finger ended his 2022 campaign at the beginning of August. Now healthy and back in camp, the two-time All-Star also expressed a desire to sort out his long-term contractual status.
Speaking with Scott Merkin of MLB.com, Anderson noted he “kind of (wants) to know where (his) feet are going to be at the next whatever years it is.” The former batting champion said he’s “so comfortable” in Chicago and hopeful of getting another deal done as quickly as possibly. “I have a lot of things that are going on with kids and just family. Being comfortable is huge for me,” he told Merkin. “No, I’m not promoting ‘pay me.’ It’s just that’s what’s really going on. Everybody knows I want to be here. It’s no secret.”
Whether the organization has a similar level of urgency isn’t known. Chicago is not facing Anderson’s imminent departure. The sides have already worked out one long-term deal, guaranteeing him $25MM back in March 2017 at a time when he had less than one year of major league service. He’s under contract for $12.5MM for the upcoming season and has a $14MM club option (or a $1MM buyout) for the 2024 campaign. It’d take a disastrous season for the club to consider the buyout, as the net $13MM decision is well below Anderson’s present open market value.
With Anderson far more established and much closer to free agency than he was at the time of his first extension, any new deal would be at a completely different level financially. Anderson told Merkin he’s not interested in signing a below-market pact to ensure an agreement gets done. “No discounts. That’s not to … put anything out there that might seem negative or think I want the most money. I just want to be treated fair and want both ends to be happy like we did last time, whichever way it goes,” he said. “This has been home. This is all I know. I would be disappointed if that came to an end. But at the end of the day, I understand the process.”
If he were to simply play out his current deal (assuming the ’24 option is exercised), Anderson would first reach free agency in advance of his age-31 season. That’s two years older than Trevor Story and Javier Báez were when signing their free agent deals over the 2021-22 offseason and two years older than Dansby Swanson was this winter. Anderson would be the same age as Marcus Semien was two offseasons back.
Each of those players secured deals of six-plus years with guarantees in the $140MM to $180MM range. Anderson isn’t the same style of hitter as those other players, hitting for a little less power but more consistently running excellent batting averages than each. He’s been similarly effective overall though.
Since the start of the 2019 season, Anderson owns a .318/.347/.473 line in over 1600 plate appearances. His 123 wRC+ indicates that production checks in 23 percentage points above that of the league average batter. His 2022 campaign was a little down relative to his previous three seasons, with a .301/.339/.395 line before his season-ending hand injury. Nevertheless, the broader track record at the dish is in line with those of Semien, Story and Báez and a little above Swanson’s. Semien, Story and Báez each had a wRC+ between 113 and 119 over the four-year stretch preceding their free agent deals, while Swanson had a cumulative 104 mark but had posted his three best seasons leading up to free agency.
Anderson is perhaps not the same caliber of defender as Báez or Swanson, though he typically rates as a slightly above-average shortstop by public metrics like DRS and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Story and Semien each came with questions about whether they were better suited for second base in the relatively near future. There aren’t expected to be those same concerns with Anderson.
Those comparisons lend a rough idea to the kind of range Anderson and his reps could target in free agency. There’s additional risk with Anderson considering he’s still two years from the open market, and the ChiSox may be reluctant to offer true market value prices to buy out his mid-30’s this far in advance. That said, any extension would require the largest investment in franchise history by a wide margin. The White Sox have never guaranteed above $75MM to an individual player — on their five-year deal with Andrew Benintendi this winter — and Anderson could reasonably look to more than double that amount.
If the Sox don’t get an extension done this spring, there’s at least some chance Anderson’s future with the organization could come into doubt by the middle of the season. Chicago showed no interest in trading him this offseason, an unsurprising stance for a club counting on a return to contention after an injury-marred year that culminated in an average showing. If they struggle early in the upcoming season and fall out of the playoff mix, the organization could have to consider larger-scale changes as the deadline nears. The Sox have arguably the game’s worst farm system and key players like Anderson, Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn are all within two years of free agency. Another non-competitive season could lead the front office to consider a reboot during the summer.
Chicago is certainly hoping it doesn’t come to that, either because a long-term deal for Anderson takes a trade firmly off the table or the club is in strong enough position to buy at the deadline. The Sox have a decent amount of payroll flexibility past the 2024 campaign, with only Benintendi ($16.5MM) and Luis Robert ($15MM) under guaranteed deals. Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Andrew Vaughn and Garrett Crochet will be deep into their arbitration seasons by then, however, and the organization will have to retain or replace Giolito, Yoán Moncada and Eloy Jiménez. There’s opportunity but a decent number of decisions facing general manager Rick Hahn and his staff as things play out.
TBH it seems like he’s worth those options but not a whole lot more than the option values. If they did extend him, I think maybe 3 years/$51M would be the max value of any extension on top of his current deal. His “Average 3.8 WAR” looks great, but his durability and productivity has been inconsistent.
If he’s worth a max of $25M a season and in a bad but kind of typical season he’s worth about $10M, that puts his general value at around $17M per season and he’d be 32 in the first year of any new deal, so a 3 year pact should be the max length.
Correction: Any extension should probably be more like four years w/ a 5th year vesting option. 4 years/$70M w/ a $2M buyout on a $20M vesting option that’d turn into a team option if the vesting requirements aren’t reached.
TTO, I think you’re in the neighborhood – 4 years/$72M gauranteed. I don’t think TA will like it, but I think that will be the market.
I just heard an interview TA did with Barstool. Yeah, he expects to be paid like the SS did this off-season. Talking about Benintendi’s contact, “good for him, but I’m a SS and I’m gonna get paid like a them.”
Deep thoughts by Tim Anderson -https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3457152/watch-tim-anderson-explain-why-im-a-moron-for-saying-hitting-.300-doesnt-matter
Lol, I doubt JReinsdorf is going to reach that deep into his cookie jar for TA. Especially since Jerry has TA locked up thru 2024. By that time, Sox will probably be blowing up this team anyway. Window of Opportunity, shut!!!
His best days have come and gone. He has a history of over estimating himself.
Personally I think all these sports people are over paid. Multimillion dollars per ONE year for people play sports. Hard to imagine. I hope the teams all go broke
Thanks Franklin, Mr Economist.
The positive is that you don’t sound jealous or bitter … at all.
One of the haters who strictly just looks at the job itself, doesn’t consider that these players put people in the stands and eyeballs on the TV…which helps the team make money, let alone the merchandise too
They won’t. With that mentality, You will stay broke.
I hope the teams all go broke
===============================
You’re a little on the evil side, aren’t you. 100M tickets sold every year. Probably 100M+ people following their favorite teams. 10s of thousands of employees depending on BB.
And you want all these people to suffer?
That’s not a sports problem. That’s a humanity and/cultural problem. We value entertainment over anything. All entertainers get paid.
Asking why, would be the deeper thought.
I’d say in a nutshell it’s because everyday we are faced with mortality and life is survival. Entertainment and other luxuries distract us from how fragile and painful life can be or become at any moment. It’s scary. So we value our distractions immensely.
I agree on face but it’s more about basic economics and how much revenue can be extracted from doing a particular job or having a unique skill set.
Both are right really. Lyman was pointing to the cause/behavior. You the result of that behavior.
.316 career OBP with that OBP driven by BAbip, wont get near 25 million or over 4 years.
His first contract was 7 years for $38 M. I don’t blame him not wanting to give a hometown discount. He already did in my opinion.
He didn’t give a discount. He took security. It was signed early. What happened if he got hurt or became a Joe Charboneau? Or Mark Fidrych? You just never know.
I agree with Dewey in both his comment and username.
His contract is not 7/38.
Baseball reference says 7/37.5
No, it doesn’t.
Yes it does.
” 7 yrs/$37.5M (17-23) & 24 team option”
Thank you for clarifying what his first contract was. I don’t know why but lately mlbtr hasn’t been doing great being clear on these things. Just like in this article… Giving only the years signed for.
It’s called laziness
A fair contract extension for Tim Anderson in today’s market and with Jerry Reinsdorf owning the team is hardly likely. With no change in ownership, TA7 likely hands the shortstop baton to Colson Montgomery in two years or gets traded beforehand.
At least JR spare us from surprises. We have plenty of time to prepare for, and accept, that any high-value players will be sent packing, and comparable replacements surely won’t be scooped up. Ahhh, the bliss of consistency.
Montgomery got a taste of AA last year. Think he starts back there this season, putting him on track to debut next year?
Odds are our WSox will not make the playoffs. Not negative, but Cleveland is much better and so are several ALE/ALW teams.
That could finally mean Hahn/KW are dismissed, and positive aspect of many expiring contracts after ’23 is a new/sharper FO has a cleaner slate. New regime can pick up TA option, but trade him given the poor SS defense and consistently too few games played (see ’19-’22) even when young. Him saying “no discounts” lacks self-awareness. This is a culture filled with contractually comfortable underachievers relative to their past “hype”. He/Robert/Eloy/Moncada are way past due to all play about 150 games in ’23 and look like legit stars.
The FO isn’t the problem. The problem is Reinsdorf. He’s the one pulling the strings of his puppets, Hahn and Williams. When Reinsdorf cared about his team and put some money in it, Hahn was able to make decent signings. Since 2021, his hands have been tied to add quality players by Reinsdorf’s cheapness. In 2017 the Sox promised us a five year rebuild. Under Rick Renteria, it happened in four. Reinsdorf fired him and put in gramps LaRussa, who drove the team into the ground to the point that they are now back in a rebuild. There’s no way Reinsdorf will give Anderson the money and length of contract he deserves and would get on the open market. I’m prepared for the time Robert, Anderson, Vaughn, Giolito and Lynn leave the team. Hopefully, by then, Reinsdorf will have sold the team (not likely) or will lose it due to other reasons (more likely).
All true. And remember, this is the owner that denied the Bulls another opportunity to try for another championship.
Hahn and Williams will only be fired if the team is sold. Jerry will never fire Williams and I doubt he will Hahn.
Anderson is a fun player, but any team would be taking a risk signing him. There are certaintly injury concerns to consider. 2019-2021, he averaged about 75% of the season played. Last year, only played 79 games. If the injuries persist over the next few seasons, maybe a move to second base would not only help him stay on the field, but improve his defense.
I think he could be a Dee Gordon 2.0. Great when young but start to rapidly decline with age. Contact hitters are a risky investment heading into their 30’s.
Josh Donaldson’s best bud
Imagine that clubhouse if he winds up in NYY while Donaldson is there…
1) the Yankees won’t make a play for TA, don’t need him.
2) This is JD’s last season with the Yankees, if he lasts that long.
Guy is good enough to get 100 mil overall, that would be fair to start with if not with the sox another team would do it
There’s some irony in the antipathy between those two. It appears that things they have in common are what they dislike in each other.
He’s a pretty good hitter. Defense at SS though is average at best.
Last year Anderson was largely a singles hitter who barely drove in any runs(and leadoff hitter or not, great players drive in runs). His glove is also godawful (two three error games last season.. yeesh), never mind all of this guys ‘boo boos’ like pulled groin and hamstring issues…I think he needs to show he can be a reliable good player before the Sox open up the bank for him…
Anyone who overpays this guy is gonna regret it.
Especially a team that is the literal definition of mediocre.
Another player only in it for the money. Who would want to sign an extension with the White Sox when you know the team isnt going nowhere. Chicago really has no business having two teams to begin with they ought to move the white sox to a decent location that could actually draw fans.
“The team isn’t going nowhere” is a double negative and grammatically incorrect. Where’s BenBenBen?
The White Sox have been around a lot longer than that other “team” on the north side of town. If anyone moves, it should be them.
The Cubs organization has been around about 25 years longer. The Cubs discarded the name “White Stockings” and the White Sox organization adopted it.
Actually, the White Stockings, formed in the late 1800s, have always been the White Sox. You’re thinking of another White Stockings team. It was common in the early days of organized ball for there to be more than one team with the same name. The second White Stockings eventually became the cubs when they joined the National League. They played in the Federal League at the end of WW II, then rejoined the National League. So the present White Sox team have played continuously in organized bb longer than the flubs. They should be the ones to move and maybe build a major league stadium instead of that poor excuse of a park they play in now.
You better get in touch with Brooks Boyer to educate him and have him clean this up. mlb.com/whitesox/history/timeline
Maybe you could provide a link, because every place you look, from MLB, Baseball Reference and Baseball Almanac have the Cubs starting out in 1876 and the White Sox in 1900
What are you mumbling about, brother? The first organized baseball team was called the White Stockings. They were founded in 1869, and were around until they disbanded in 1870. Coincidentally, that’s the year most everyone says the Cubs were founded. That particular team banded and disbanded a couple of times until it joined the National League. They went by a couple different names, such as the Colts and the Orphans. They got the name Cubs in the early 1900s, and it’s stuck for over a century. How can you say the Cubs played in something called the Federal League until flipping WWII. The Cubs were a founding member of of the National League, which is older than the American League. And they won two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908. And they actually could’ve won a third, but they lost to the White Sox in 06. I’m sorry to say that the Cubs have been around longer than your precious White Stockings. But it’s the truth. It’s pretty flipping funny that you don’t think the Cubs played in the NL until WWII. That makes no flipping sense, since it was their brand that they hadn’t won a title in over 100 years until your nightmare scenario in 16. But keep on going with the Cubs are going anywhere. They outdraw the Sox even when they are god awful. And they’ve created something in Wrigleyville that Jerry could only dream about.
@itsbeenawhile iirc the cubs were dreadful in 06, heck the cards won that division 1 maybe 2 games over .500 and hou was .500, and det ran away with the alc and the al in general to get to the ws. so did you travel to another timeline where there was a cws vs cubs ws.
1906
thanks sportswood i completely forgot about 1906, i’ve just gotten so used to 0x being used for the 2000’s and 1906 makes a whole lot more sense lol
That is hilarious. Wrigley is as iconic as it gets. Comiskey was too, but now the Sox play at second rate field.
I take it you’d gladly take a pay cut to work where you do because you don’t do it for the money?
114 OPS+ in 100 games per season and 3.0 WAR. Just ok defense. Maybe 3/30?
This sounds rather desperate. It’s almost like the Kershaw and José Ramírez situations. I’d say Kershaw is working for cheap labor wages, while Ramirez isn’t too far behind in terms of discount. He still says no discounts. That’s strange.
I wouldn’t mind those cheap labor wages Kershaw is getting.
Can you pitch 10 straight seasons with an ERA under 3? His 2.48 career mark is the lowest of anyone since the expansion ERA. This is coming from someone who thinks 80-85 percent of free agents are underpaid.
*overpaid
@degrom being a lefty with a pulse doesn’t hurt either
Did any answers come back if he fathered the child by the pregnant women with his #7 tattooed on her chest. She alleged he was the father. He is a married man with children. The media seemed to let this slide….
Why do you care?
Because maybe he believes in morals. How old-fashioned of him!
“The media seemed to let this slide….”
And we all know why. Nothing more need be said.
A players personal life outside of DUI, and violence arent anyones business.
If TA wants 100 baby mommas thats his business.
This depends on so much. Tim is a fine player but there’s room for improvement in his game and maturity in his self. I’d like to see both trend upward and for Tim to stick around. The other half is ownership and we all know how that is.
This is the year for the team to stay healthy and stop screwing around. I’m interested to see if Pedro can be a good manager and bring something out of this bunch. The potential is definitely there. A healthy and successful season from all should easily warrant a nice extension for TA7.
He played in 79 games last year and hasn’t suited up for 125 games since 2018. Odd time to be calling for an extension at “no discount”. Needs to prove he’s still a reliable SS.
The guy can stay there as long as he wants if he’s willing to play for what they’ll pay him. In reality, what on earth are these guys going to ever be able to use all their money on? Can’t buy happiness through materialism, can only travel so much and it’s not that expensive, can only live in one house at a time, and bigger is definitely not better when it’s gaudy. Not counting anything he has already made or will make in the future, just this season alone with $12.5 million would make him set for life.
So is the priority staying in Chicago or getting the most money ? I’m getting mixed messages. Maybe “no discounts” really means “no significant discounts”.
It means he doesn’t believe what he’s saying.
For the non-locals or those who haven’t seen his interview with Chuck Garfien, this clown literally put blame on the fans and the media for the way last season went with the Sox. As a fan and after seeing his true colors come out, I say no thank you. Play him this year, hope he has a great season then trade him in the off-season for whatever you can get instead of overpaying him.
Yeah, there are several red flags with him. Issues with the ladies and he sure loves him some Tim Anderson, which doesn’t play well in the clubhouse.
I see this as PR move. He’s trying to get out front on this. He’s trying to pressure the Sox into putting an offer out. Then he’s going to negotiate it through the media.
Nice word salad as well. His statements aren’t very coherent and come across as disingenuous.
He’s got two more years of control. By then he’ll be 31. He’s coming off a down year at SS and never developed plate discipline. He walks like it’s against his religion. If the Chisox wouldn’t extend Abreu, they’re not extending Tim.
He can hope all he wants.
The Chisox seem to be on the verge of a rebuild.
I agree with all of what you said except being on the verge of a rebuild. The have a good chunk of money coming off the books and if Montgomery is ready to take over for TA, they can trade TA and allocate the funds of Grandal’s, Joe Kelly’s & Clevenger’s $$ into better players (fingers crossed). I feel it will be more of a re-tool than a rebuild.
They cannot rebuild again, if that happens Hahn is likely out or JR risks losing even more of the little fan base left.
That’s likely going to happen regardless.
Has to be a rebuild. Everyone is coming up for free agency, and the Sox don’t have the farm system to rebuild on the fly. You can argue the players, but you keep Cease, Robert and Vaughn. And you may need to see what Cease will return if you don’t plan on paying him. They’ll get stuck with Moncada.
Most of their starting players will likely be gone in 1-2 years. Moreover the they can get a lot for Cease. I don’t like him because he walks too many batters. Eloy is tradable as a hitter. The Chisox should take a lesson from former Tigers GM Al Avila on what not to do. That is holding on to good young talent with caveats for too long. They simply can’t compete with Cleveland and the better teams in the AL.
The goal for pitchers is wins. Not the number of walks, so, hr’s and all the other statistics. And Cease.got a lot of wins last year. I guess that’s why he finished second in Cy Young voting last year. Not first, because he walks too many batters. Eloy is one of the few players on the team who can hit with some regularity. They won’t trade him because he’s going to be one of several players who are going to walk when they’re eligible for free agency.
I think if Cease doesn’t let his ego get the better of him, he has a no-hitter, and maybe that tips the scales in his favor for the CY Young last season.. That being said, he needs to have another good season this year and not lose steam like the end of last season
Anderson is the Ike Davis of this era.. An avg player who gets all the hype without actually producing numbers their reputation suggests they produce.
Yeah, all he does is hit .300+ every year. What a bum.
Empty calories….. He hits .300 but last season it was an awful lot of singles, and also spent an awful lot of time on the DL, and could not drive a run in when he was in the lineup (lead off hitter or not, you have to be able to drive a run in, at least ‘superstars’ do), also how many runs did he give up with his holey glove?
Avenger still thinks BA is the only way to evaluate a player.
The White Sox 1-2 punch of Anderson and Benintendi is his Murderers Row.
That’s not what he said at all lol. A guy who hits .300 with a decent OBP is a valuable player, and bat to ball skills have big value in key situations. Look at the Field of Dreams game. Balance in a lineup is important.
Lol I understood. Just having fun.
I agree avenger and CBlanc. Although he has missed his share of games in some years, he has played an adequate SS, and has done a very good job hitting lead off.
Career .288 hitter, with .316 career OBP, 3.6 career BB%, OPS+ of 105 for all that .300 hitting.
Would you call a guy with .316 career OBP, with .442 Slg% in a hitters park an above avg hitter? It’s a rhetorical question, answer is no.. Anderson has above avg contact skills but that’s not translating into Anderson being an above avg or elite hitter.
Anderson has a career .352 BAbip, avg is .300, and when that craters what value Anderson brings will disappear.
Anderson is current example is why hitting .300 avg without OBP or Slg is empty.
Deeper analytics aren’t better; 55% ground ball rate, (alarming) double digit double play, 5.8% Barrell rate, 31% hard hit rate. ISO was down to .093 last year. OPS+ away from home is 97.
Not a profile you drop $180M on.
Davis is an extremely common name. Which one?
He said “Ike” but the analogy of him with Tim Anderson is beyond my comprehension.
Anderson has to prove he is the player he thinks he is, especially when the Sox have Montgomery coming (even if Montgomery only had a ‘taste’ of AA last season if he keeps playing like he has). Too many errors (two three error games last season.. would almost be tolerable if he hit like Jose Valentin on a good day), cannot drive in runs when he had the opportunities (which were surprisingly often despite him being a lead off guy), was mostly a singles hitter, too many injuries, notably to his legs and core, which one would think a ‘superstar’ would take better care of their body. I was one of his biggest supporters, but last year he looked like he was coasting (like most of the team) .
He thinks of himself as another Hank Aaron so don’t think he will reach that threshold.
He thinks he the modern day Jackie Robinson, to be specific. si.com/mlb/2019/04/30/tim-anderson-white-sox-speak…
Anderson is a great athlete who is not a great defensive SS. His future is at 3B, for the team with the insight.
His plus speed and ‘average’ power might play better in CF or at 2B rather than the hot corner.
In the near future, that’s logical, but I do believe that he will extend his career (32-37 years old) as a 3B. Similar to Juan Uribe.
You put the guy who clobbers the ball and can play solid defense at third.. Anyone else is a waste at the position, no matter how good their glove is. As Anderson cannot hit that well and sure does not have a good glove (or very accurate arm), him being at 3B would be comical.
World Series Wins:
Juan Uribe =1
Josh Donaldson =0
BTW, latter in his career, Anderson could easily move down to sixth or seventh in the order, and hit 20-25 home runs. He has the power, but lead-off hitters have other responsibilities.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an Anderson fan… just picturing what another team might do in the future, when he’s in his mid-30s.
It should also be noted that Joe Crede was the White Sox third baseman and Juan Uribe their shortstop on the 2005 World Series winning team. Crede was the prototypical 3B with solid power and a plus glove and arm. Uribe had a bat that played OK at SS and was a decent glove with a plus arm.
I’m pretty sure that we’re on the same page, but the 1 WS win I accredited to Uribe, was when he played 3B for San Francisco. Yes, he did also win a WS for the Sox in ’05…. but that was as SS.
Too bad all his home games are not in Dyersville.
Tim Anderson? AKA Jackie Robinson?
I’d want an extension at full market price if I couldn’t stay healthy too
Good luck, Jackie.
That may get you suspended from your job, though, like it did to Donaldson.
Does he ever shut up? I hope Montgomery has a good season and the TA experience ends ASAP.
I see all these shortstops making bank, and I want in on that insanity, so I’d like to give the White Sox an opportunity to pay me more than they’re obligated to going forward.
^^This^^ … Don’t begrudge him for the effort, but his delivery is disingenuous and I hate when players try to negotiate through the media. He wants to be paid like Turner starting next year, but he isn’t Turner and Turner isn’t worth what he got. TA is a solid SS, and you can win a lot of games with him at short. He thinks he’s elite, but he isn’t, for a number of reasons. If some team wants to drop a 7-year/$175 on him, I say, thanks for the memories.
I like TA but after the 2024 season, Montgomery should be ready and like it’s been stated, the Sox will be looking to get younger. TA probably has several good years in him but the only way they extend him is if Montgomery isn’t ready or they feel he’s not a SS.
Frankly, I just want the Sox to be healthy and see what this season brings and deal with things after the season.
Are you a .300 hitter if you only play 79 games? Nope because you aren’t hitting.300 when you are not playing the remaining games you are a .000 hitter that isn’t helping the team, JP Crawford plays 150 games a year and averages one hit per game. Which is the league avg. If all players did that you would win most games. TA isn’t worth it anymore the Twins traded their best hitter for what matters good pitchers.
For the record, Luis Arraez is a .314 career hitter in his brief MLB career. He won the AL Batting Title last year with a .316 average playing 144 games and with 603 PA’s. Tim Anderson hasn’t accrued that playing time since his 2017 and 2018 after making his White Sox debut in in 2016.
Pablo López is a pretty good starting pitcher and is a comparable age to Arraez. It remains to be seen how much value López will provide the Twins relative to what Arraez gave them. That said, the trade did make sense for the Twins and Marlins from a team aspect.
The White Sox’s biggest issue in the last two seasons was having a healthy line up. The talent has been and showed us it can put up runs, however, it was painful to watch guys like Jimenez to Robert to Moncada to Grandal and Anderson go down to injuries in the last two seasons. Hopefully, these guys condition a little better with their flexibility rather than lifting weights where these injuries have been constantly happening to them. For Anderson, if the White Sox face the “injury bug” this season where they fall out of contention then we should not be surprised if he is a package deal to a team like the Braves or Yankees who may need a short stop at the dead line. Its a long season so time will only tell us what may or may not happen!
True enough. I could easily envision TA7 being dealt in a “fall out of contention” scenario to a contender. The Braves would make sense. The Yankees are deep at shortstop with two highly rated advanced prospects, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza. The latter already had a successful cup of coffee with the Bronx Bombers last season. I’d guess NY will be targeting a starting pitcher or a left-handed bat come the summer trade deadline.
Agree with all of that, but I believe the Sox will be in contention at the deadline. Cease will be Cease. Lynn will be Lynn. I expect a bounces back from Moncada, Giolito and maybe most importantly, a healthy Robert for 150 games. IMO, the Andrus signing was so important. Instead of 2 unknown positions, they only have 1… And they can make RF work with what they have.
If they trade TA, part of me hopes they go all-in on a rebuild. A lot of money can come off the books after this year and the Sox have options on several more players. They could either pick up those options and trade or just let the players walk. I see this is as a make or break year for this iteration of the club: a good playoff run may make them go all-in next year (a man can dream), but being out of contention should make them seriously consider jump-starting the next rebuild. They could shave years off it if they jump on this opportunity.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but their most recent foray through the international signing period was a marked departure from prior years as they chose a bunch of guys who were years away from the majors rather than maybe a year or two away. Perhaps they did this sensing another rebuild was coming and wanting to get guys who wouldn’t be ready until 2027.
Hope hope hope.. Keep hoping.. Unless the Sox fired their entire conditioning staff and got competent people to manage these guys I doubt they stay healthy. Even if they have a staff that knows what they are doing, I think they had a lot of ‘ouchies’ last season that were things that players, who want to win, play through, not just sit on the bench and collect the check. Time will tell but I have a feeling we will see more of this ‘ow Im hurt’ from Anderson, Jimenez, Robert, and Moncada and it will be injuries where the player ‘doesn’t feel right’ for 1/4 of the season…
I just don’t see the Sox extending him but probably will depend on Colin Montgomery development this year. Giving big extensions isn’t the Sox history.
I wouldn’t mind if Montgomery switched to 2B or 3B if their 2B options don’t mature as we hope or Moncada continues to struggle. TA has at least proven that he can be an All-Star. Of course, trading TA could restock the farm a bit, so I can see it going either way. First thing’s first, though: as you said, gotta see whether Montgomery continues his trajectory.
Hyrax you can’t be all star caliber if you don’t play more than 80 games each of the past two years. JP Crawford played 150 games each of the last two years. Which one was in the playoffs last year.
TA was a replacement all star for Correa two years ago. Last year he missed a ton of games after the break. He is a PR nightmare, injuries, suspensions, personal issues follow him. He is not a leader he’s all hype. I knew he would whine about getting an extension. He thinks he is worth what other SS got recently. Let some other team risk it, he is already demanding fans support him. What arrogance, he’s not worth it.