The White Sox have signed right-hander Justin Anderson to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte for now but could get an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Anderson, 31, appeared in 111 big league games for the Angels over 2018 and 2019. He tossed 102 1/3 innings with a 4.75 earned run average. He struck out a strong 27.7% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 15.7% clip. Despite the control issues, he nonetheless served a leverage role for the Halos, racking up five saves and 33 holds.
Since then, however, injuries have sent him out into the proverbial wilderness. In 2020, he suffered an oblique strain and then a torn ligament in his pitching elbow, the latter eventually leading to Tommy John surgery in July of 2020. He was non-tendered by the Angels at the end of that year and signed a two-year minor league deal with the Rangers, with that club hoping for a post-surgery bounceback in 2022. That didn’t work out, with Anderson landing on the minor league IL in April of 2022 after just three appearances and never returning.
In 2023, Anderson finally showed a bit of progress. He secured a minor league deal with the Royals in June and was able to make 24 appearances over the final few months of the season, logging 36 2/3 innings of work. Anderson posted an ERA of 6.87 on the year overall but struck out 35.5% of batters faced and finished strong, with an ERA of 3.44 in his final 11 appearances and 0.63 in his last eight. Any pitcher can look better with that kind of arbitrary selectivity, but since Anderson was dealing with injuries for so long, it would be fair to expect him to take some time getting into a groove.
The White Sox will be hoping that was indeed the case and that Anderson can be in better form in 2024 after shaking off some rust this year. If he is able to stay healthy and effective, he still has a full slate of options and less than three years of service time. If he’s added to the roster at any point, he could be moved between the majors and minors without being exposed to waivers and could be retained for future seasons via arbitration.
Look out, looks like the White Sox are coming after my Twins lol:)
Oh u guys suck. Don’t get all high and mighty… the twins
Getz is obviously ‘the chairman’s’ kind of guy, digging around in the bottom of the barrel for cheap players.
and Yes, I get this is likely just a low risk move and maybe a minor league AAAA type player, I just have a feeling this is the kind of stuff the White Sox will be doing all off season, betting on players having bounceback years (which really is no different than how they ran things before the rebuild by the way), Sox fans may see like one major move, but it will likely be an overpay for a player that will not live up to the contract that they will be then saddled with.
When will the Sox learn that you don’t rebuild a team on a wing and a prayer. The last rebuild brought players like Giolito, Moncada, Kopech and Lopez to join holdovers Abreu and Garcia. This time around it’s now two seasons of how to rebuild a minor league team. Can we please get pitchers who haven’t spent most of their careers on the IL, who haven’t played in the minors for the great majority of their time in pro ball and that don’t have ERA’s nearing 7?
Are you using the Sox keeping Leury Garcia as an example of a good rebuild foundation? Interesting.
Listen, adding a bunch of lottery tickets like Anderson, Sorotka, deivi garcia and Luis patino is all part of the process when you farm system is awful. This has a 10% chance of working out, but I don’t mind taking some shots.
I think he was referring to Avi Garcia, who was a good player but should have been a first baseman instead of a mediocre, injury prone outfielder.
NoNe k: No, I meant Leuery Garcia. Great utility player who could play 2b, 3b, as and the corner outfields. His hitting overall was never great, but not everyone has a good hitter 1-9. There are others to pick up for light hitters.
This is nothing and I mean NOTHING great about leury Garcia – don’t take my word for it, he sat all year on his couch unsigned. And somebody still needs to explain to white Sox fans the contract they gave him.
*there
Many people in Chicago were blaming Leury and LaRussa for the Sox’ problems in 2022. After they both left, the team got much worse.
Leury’s value was never as a starter (at any position). His value was as a switch-hitter with speed, who could play 6 different positions off the bench.
And he performed poorly. And when he got a starter’s share of ABs he provided replacement to negative value. White Sox fans have a bad habit of thinking bad utility players are good because Steve Stone says how wonderful of a person he is. Simply because he could play 6 positions does not make him good. And if you’re somehow drawing a parallel to Leury Garcia’s (along with Larussa’s) departure as some sort of catalyst for the team’s drop off then I really don’t know what to tell you. We’re just in two separate worlds.
“And when he got a starter’s share of ABs” This is what is known as a “straw man argument”.
BTW, why didn’t the Sox improve after ridding themselves of Leury and LaRussa? Were you wrong about the depth of the problems?
What you are suggesting is that leury garcia was a valued member of the team. Simply because they replaced a bad player with an even worse player, that does not make him good. I’m not sure you know what a straw man argument is however if you’d like to hide behind that to distract from your pathetic take that the loss of Leury garcia being the downfall of the 2023 chicago white Sox, have it. You do you!
And again, I’m just some apparent straw man on a messageboard.
“His value was as a switch-hitter with speed, who could play 6 different positions off the bench.“
29 other teams (on top of the Sox paying him 11 mil to do literally anything in the world he wants besides play baseball for them) must have coincidentally overlooked the waiver email stating Leury’s availability, there’s just no way they’d pass up all that value.
“What you are suggesting is that leury garcia was a valued member of the team.”
He did have value as a versatile player coming off the bench. Maybe you should get help with your Leury Derangement Syndrome.
” I’m not sure you know what a straw man argument is however if you’d like to hide behind that to distract from your pathetic take that the loss of Leury garcia being the downfall of the 2023 chicago white Sox”
Hahaha… thanks for proving my point.
Garcia had a 10 year career. How long do most utility players last?
“He did have value as a versatile player coming off the bench.”
If only there was statistical representation for a baseball player’s value. *spoiler alert* there is. And once you learn about it you’re not going to like it.
You represent Leury. Keep pushing for that contract. I’m sure someday somebody will return your calls. Until then, I’ve spent far too much time on this fools errand. It’s gone from comically intriguing to just downright disturbing so I’ll let you get back to watching all one of those leury garcia highlight reels.
Hahn and Williams were responsible for the last rebuild which gave Sox fans hope that they might actually have a contender until Reinsdorf stopped it cold. Like Hahn, Getz will have very little money to work with. But Getz, who couldn’t build a pony league team, is a boot-licker who is just thrilled to be given a job he is totally unqualified for. The rebound projects who should be selling real estate in their brother-in-law’s company are instead putting on Sox uniforms, or Charlotte or Birmingham uniforms. Reinsdorf thinks he’s fooling us by saying this is not a rebuild. How can it not be when you only have two players to build around? Since the 2024 season will likely be as bad or worse than 2023, my advice to Sox fans is this: Pick a second team to cheer for next season. And if you’re a true Sox fan, that team will not be the cubs.
When will the Sox learn that you don’t rebuild a team on a wing and a prayer. The last rebuild brought players like Giolito, Moncada, Kopech and Lopez to join holdovers Abreu and Garcia. This time around it’s now two seasons of how to rebuild a minor league team. Can we please get pitchers who haven’t spent most of their careers on the IL, who haven’t played in the minors for the great majority of their time in pro ball and that don’t have ERA’s nearing 7? I understand it will be difficult getting actual quality players to come to the S.S. Titanic, but Reinsdorf and his even stingier budget this off-season won’t allow that to happen. Like Hahn last year, that is what Getz has to work with. Hahn was a huge part of the earlier rebuild that gave the fans hope that they could be a contender every year until he was forced to work under the burden of Reinsdorf putting the rebuild to a complete stop. Unlike Hahn, Getz is a boot-licker who is so excited to have been given an unmerited chance as GM that that he feels good about himself after signing rejects to join last year’s slew of dfa’s. With 2024 shaping up to look even worse than 2023, my advice to Sox fans is this: Pick your second team now because the only thing to watch at Sox Park next summer will be Robert, until he gets injured again, and Cease once every five days. And if you’re a true Sox fan, your second team better not be the cubs.
Not with me. Sox fan no matter what. Off-season just started.
Aiden: You have a better attitude than I do. I will watch the Sox next season as much as I can take. But above all I’m a bb fan. I like teams like the O’s, DBacks, Devil Rays and other teams that are trying to win. The Sox are not that team right now.
Jerry isn’t keeping the team forever. The entire organization is far from perfect with or wo him. Maybe then the organization finally puts money into advanced scouts, analytics, etc. It’s been a long time since the white Sox have had a dynasty.
Hahn is the reason the rebuild wasn’t successful. They drafted poorly, didn’t develop talent and he traded away prospects for aging veterans.Besides LaRussa, Jerry’s biggest flaw in this team is that he listened to Hahn and Williams too long. Those clowns never should have had the positions they had
If Hahn was guilty of anything it was rewarding players for their names on not really what they did on the field yet. Almost all to a man took the money and thought “Well I made it” Then you had a group of enablers in the locker room after Renteria (as I think Ricky did actually get something out of all these guys), but I think people consistently forget about the Renteria screw job that was likely “The Chairman’s” doing (although Im sure KW was there sounding like Smithers the whole time). I think that is what really screwed up the rebuild more than anything else.
Makes sense. White sox have. a lot of leftover Anderson jerseys. why not just sign another anderson and save some money on new jerseys.
White Sox with the throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks strategy.
Aldi brand spaghetti no less
It’s obvious the strategy is sign everyone with a pulse and hope for a miracle.
Another ex-Royal added to the depth chart. That said, this one could be a sleeper with continued good health this spring.
Good luck at new place with hopefully better coaching.
White Sox are the worst organization in mlb. Embarrassment, major market team acting like the dumb arses they are. Sucks to be a fan of them I bet.
They are plenty of bad organizations beside the white Sox. Reds, Pirates, Rockies, Royals, A’s all come to mind.
Aiden: Me again. The Reds have a good organization, including a good farm system. With the Brewers low on pitching, I think the Reds will contend for a PO spot next year. The A’s, like the Sox, have a disinterested owner, but their players play hard. The Sox don’t. The Pirates, Rockies and Royals, I agree with you.
They just need a fresh new team period.
Dollar for dollar spent, Angles get my vote for worst franchise. How do you have the best two players on the planet and still not sniff October……
Some of you get way too bitter over small moves like this. It’s not even December yet, try to calm yourselves.
Yeah it’s early in the off-season. Way to early to say that the white Sox are losing 100 games.
Then I’ll say it: The White Sox will lose 100+ games next season. And IronBalls, you can wait and wait and wait, but the Sox are going to keep dumpster diving this offseason.
Sox will probably trade some of their core. They’ll probably hold on to Beni, Vaughn, Moncada, Robert. I agree with the low expectations. But 63-68 wins sounds reasonable unless they shock the world like the reds this past season.
I’ve been a Sox fan for a long time and I’m well aware how they operate. It’s just that all teams make these type of acquisitions. This team has been very disappointing but new off season, new GM, a handful of new coaches. I’m just saying try to have a little bit of optimism. No disrespect avenger, but you’re one of the grumpiest commenters on here. Don’t let it crank you up like that bro.
IK. I like the hires Chris Getz has made. Chris is hard selling this off-season. Some FA which will probably be pitchers since it never hurts. Usually Sox are better when it comes to pitching bounce back candidates like Cueto and Clevinger so it doesn’t hurt.
New this, new that. Same owner
I see how some fans try to find the positives here, but the only optimism this wreck of an org deserves is a ‘Prove me wrong’ attitude. There has just been too much systemic failure and not enough to fix that, but lets look at the reasons for ‘optimism’:
-A ‘new’ GM, not really, I mean he is a ‘yes’ man that survived the purge, The last role? Managing the minor league development system (BTW this org was also the worse minor league system in the game last season).
-The few ‘new’ coaches? The problem is they still have the same pitching coach who was sleeping in the dugout (metaphorically.. heck maybe literally) and the same manager who realized 3/4 into the season that there was a lack of leadership in the locker room.
The problem I have with this is that the Sox did little the last two seasons and misfired when they did, all with some that kept saying ‘just wait, the big move is coming, just wait’.. Still waiting. I mean Good orgs make that move and do not miss on it.
As for what Im guessing many were looking for is that we would have been much happier if they purged the entire front office, and the coaching staff, really start fresh organizationally, but once again its a half efforts and this miser owner should not be lauded for it, but run out of town.
I appreciate your response and agree with all your points. I suppose im just burned out on all the bitching and negativity. As I’ve said countless times, it’s hard being a Sox fan but it’s still just a game. Maybe im just grasping for something to be enthused about lol.
I agree. Even if you have high expectations coming into the season. Anything can happen at the end of the day.
Nothing but small, garbage moves usually tells you franchise direction for the upcoming season. Especially when some of those moves get 40man roster spots.
All teams sign minor league deals.
Probably a nothing move, but Sox will need someone to eat meaningless BP innings. Upside of being tradeable at the deadline, almost no downside considering the cost.
I see the Sox competing in 2025 or 2026. 2024 would be a miracle like the Reds last season. 2025 would be a little bit exciting but definitely not 2024.
Hi, Aiden: The Reds are turning things around with young players like de la Cruz, McLain, Steer and many others. The Sox’ farm system is virtually empty. They’re once again waiting around for “Throw Out Your Garbage Day”, then snapping up as many of those rejects as they can. They’re not going to surprise anyone for years to come.
I agree on the farm system its ranked 23rd so below average. Once Cease is traded that will probably jump by 2-3. I only said competing in 2025/2026 bc the core will be gone. They have Colson Montgomery and Bryan Ramos which are tearing double a and triple a. Getz is seeking a new direction. So 2025 or 2026 can have an exciting team and maybe they go to the playoffs.
….and who was mismanaging that minor league system the past few years? the new GM..This farm system combined to lose more games than any other farm system last season, but maybe Getz was just setting all of us up for a surprise.
Home run signing for Getz! He inked a guy who washed out with both the Angels and Royals. Is this going to be the highlight signing for the Sox this offseason?
Nah. Getz said he will add more pitching.
Garbagein garbage out
What’s a Garbagein?
Garbagein: a player, usually well past whatever prime he may have had, brought in by Jerry Reinsdorf’s White Sox who will play far more than anybody wants him to, further wasting everybody’s time
That sounds like the ‘Chairman” modus operandi alright. Seriously, I think he and KW looked at the backs of trading cards to sign FA’s, That is when they weren’t starting fires with the furious rubbing of the horseshoe and rabbit’s foot.
Wow. Best of luck to him.
Like the fact he was from the Angels as they cornered the market on Angel staff. And if he’s any good, they can trade him for Five Guys. Or some Five Guys
Every club makes transactions like this, no big deal. Hopefully, it works out for him and the team.
The difference is, other teams sign maybe a handful of these players hoping for a bounce back that will augment their starting lineup. The Sox sign nothing but these kind of players. Anyone who thinks this dfa might work out or Getz will sign the right players or that the Sox will be a contender in a year or two is a cubs fan.