Teams have been spoiled by the star-studded free agent classes of recent offseasons, particularly when it comes to shortstops. The past two winters have seen the likes of Corey Seager, Carlos Correa (twice), Marcus Semien, Dansby Swanson, Trea Turner, and Xander Bogaerts hit the open market, giving teams in search of help at the position a plethora of All Stars to choose from. Teams in need of help at shortstop this winter have found themselves with slim pickings, however.
Just three players with recent experience at shortstop cracked MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB free agents list this offseason, and the highest rated among them (Gio Urshela) played just nine games at the position in 2023 before suffering a groin injury that leaves questions about his ability to handle the position defensively entering his age-32 campaign. That leaves just two players at the top of the offseason’s thin shortstop market, and both come with major question marks: longtime White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, and former Mets, Guardians, and Dodgers infielder Amed Rosario. Both players had profiled as everyday regulars at the position entering the year but are coming off significant down seasons both at the plate and in the field.
Entering the 2023 season, Anderson was generally considered to be a top-10 shortstop in the majors. Over the previous four seasons, he had slashed an impressive .318/.347/.474 in 374 games while collecting two All Star appearances, a Silver Slugger award, and a seventh-place finish in AL MVP voting. His 123 wRC+ during that time frame ranked seventh among all shortstops in the majors, ahead of stars such as Marcus Semien and Francisco Lindor. Unfortunately, the 2023 campaign saw the 30-year-old struggle badly both at the plate and in the field. Anderson posted -2 Outs Above Average last year after posting a +5 figure over the preceding four seasons while slashing a putrid .245/.286/.296 in 524 trips to the plate. That performance translates to a wRC+ of 60, 40% worse than the league average hitter and the worst figure among all qualified major leaguers last year.
As for Rosario, the 28-year-old was once a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport but struggled early in his career as a member of the Mets. He took a significant step forward during his age-23 season, however, and from 2019 to 2022 was more or less a league average regular at shortstop with a .282/.315/.412 slash line good for a 101 wRC+. While his defensive chops at shortstop were questionable, he nonetheless accumulated a respectable 7.3 fWAR during that time, good for 19th among shortstops across those four seasons. Just as Rosario’s peak was less extreme than Anderson’s, so too was his downfall in 2023. Rosario’s overall offensive production dipped only slightly last year as he slashed .263/.305/.378 (88 wRC+) in 545 trips to the plate. Much of Rosario’s regression this season came in the field, as he posted a whopping -14 Outs Above Average at shortstop in 2023, putting him in the first percentile among all major leaguers according to Statcast.
As worrisome as Anderson’s offensive woes and Rosario’s defensive struggles are, teams in need of a shortstop will be hard-pressed to find a better option available to them. While it seems there’s at least a decent chance that the Padres trade defensive stalwart Ha-Seong Kim this offseason, other top trade candidates capable of handling short such as Willy Adames of the Brewers appear unlikely to be moved at this point in the offseason. Free agency doesn’t offer much in the way of alternative options either. Looking beyond Urshela and his aforementioned defensive question marks, the list of available shortstops is made up primarily of aging veterans coming off down seasons like Brandon Crawford and Elvis Andrus and players who have struggled to stay on the field at all recently such as Nick Ahmed and Adalberto Mondesi.
Given the many question marks surrounding both players, rumors of interest have been relatively few and far between to this point in the offseason. The Angels were connected to Anderson back in November, and his presence could allow the club to give youngster Zach Neto more time in the minor leagues to develop after he was rushed to the majors last summer. As for Rosario, he’s been rumored as a potential target for the Red Sox and Blue Jays, though both clubs have added middle infielders since then in Vaughn Grissom and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, respectively.
As far as clubs who could be speculative fits for Anderson or Rosario this winter, the team that sticks out most as in need of a shortstop is the Marlins. Miami currently figures to utilize Jon Berti as their everyday shortstop despite him having started just 86 games at the position during his major league career, more than half of which came just last season. The Dodgers are also known to be on the lookout for an upgrade over their current tandem of Gavin Lux and Miguel Rojas at the position, while the Rays could use a shortstop given that Taylor Walls is still recovering from hip surgery while Wander Franco’s future in MLB is in question due to alleged inappropriate relationships with minors. The Mariners, A’s, and Pirates are among other clubs who could potentially benefit from adding another bat to their middle infield mix.
If your team needed to added a shortstop to its middle infield mix this winter, which would you rather sign? Would you value Anderson’s stronger defense and more impressive peak, or Rosario’s youth and stronger overall numbers last season?
I’d take Rosario for the simple reason that Anderson is a headcase.
To not even mention the clubhouse problems that come with TA is just gross negligence, as is listing them as SS.
Tell us, stymie, what were those problems? You seem to have an insider’s advantage over the rest of us. So, yes, please “mention” those problems. And please don’t leave out the details.
Would YOU want him on your team?
nypost.com/2023/08/08/white-sox-shortstop-tim-ande…
Rosario – Younger, will likely get paid less, and didn’t have a drop-off like Anderson. Additionally, he’s less likely to get suspended for getting knocked out during a game.
Interestingly, these two are much closer statistically than what I originally thought. Very similar career numbers.
If I was either of them I’d be looking for a 1 year deal wherever I could get the most playing time
I agree. I’m not sure TA is that…humble?
Anderson doesn’t have a choice but to be humble. If I had an opening at second base or third I would give him a look. If I’m a team with strong player leadership that is.
Anderson has a lot of talent but he was never nurtured in Chicago, Renteria did well and Anderson responded positively but once LaRussa took over, Anderson and the rest of the Sox took a nose dive. It was compounded when the Pale hose let Abreu leave, leaving their player leadership in flux.
I say this, Anderson on a one year deal, motivated on a winning team is a scary thought. When he’s motivated he can field, he can hit, he can swipe bags, I would have liked to have seen the Cubs take a run at him for third to be honest.
He did say he was open to 2B.
Don’t want Anderson in the locker room, plus Rosario is comparatively more consistent.
Rosario. Although it’ll be no surprise to this diehard Marlins fan if management decides to go w. one of our own guys: Xavier Edwards (best choice), Vidal Brujan, Jordan Groshans, or Jacob Amaya. Along w. incumbent Jon Berti, they’re all pretty capable – which is why I’ve more or less dismissed the “Marlins desperately seeking a shortstop” rumor as over-hyped nonsense. It’s a non-story. It’s true we may sign someone if the price is right. But, IMHO, our internal candidates are better than anyone (still available) mentioned in this article.
This diehard A’s fan would rather see Rosario as well. Anderson has been connected to us but I’d rather start any and all of Rosario, SS of the future Darell Hernaiz (although I’m not totally sold on him), Nick “Batless Wizard” Allen and even much-maligned 8-million dollar man Aledmys Diaz who hit .266 in the second half last year.
Marlins are getting one of them. They don’t care about shortstop defense anyway…
Is the Tim Anderson/Amed Rosario Faceoff where they have their faces surgically switched to confuse the league’s GMs? Oh, Rob Manfred, you genius!
Only a black person can have 1 bad year after 5 good ones and not get signed.Media has ruined his rep
There it is…someone ALWAYS has to play the “race” card!!!
#FoolishComment
Let freedom ring!
Ding ding ding!
The media didn’t compare him to Jackie Robinson, he did. Whatever “rep” was ruined he did all on his own
Oh please. If people wish to be taken seriously, they need to stop with the victim stuff.
I don’t know what Anderson’s standing is in a clubhouse, as far as attitude, relations with teammates and coaches. I know he came to LaRussas defense when it was reported the clubhouse was in shambles but that’s about it.
I think Anderson will find a job but it’s going to be a team with an open competition at a particular position. I’ve never read he’s a clubhouse cancer or anything like that (although anytime a black player is favor non-tendered he immediately gets labeled as a bad teammate, like Stroman). My concern on Anderson however is he played 70 games in 2022, got hurt, and then was awful in 2023. There has to be some concern about his health.
If you look at his 22 stats, dude was on fire, in typical Anderson fashion early, got hurt and completely fell off. That is where my concern is, however all you have to do is read these comments and tell most are race related.
@Liberal, you get a F in trolling. A true liberal would say African American….
@Tigers3232: And you get an F for magnifying someone’s dumb post instead of letting it rest.
@baron and yet here you are compounding it. Maybe you should practice what you preach….
I’m just calling you out, not calling anyone a troll or referring to their post.
Take responsibility for your own BS.
B.S?? Not sure how calling out someone’s ignorance when trying to be a smarta$$ and spin it into politics and failing so miserably is B.S. but ok.
FYI, normally I don’t even entertain political zealots. However in that guys case, yes the failure was quite amusing and I felt deserved mentioning. Sorry if it was not up to your standard, next time I ll make sure I seek your approval…
You don’t need my approval. But knowing when to let something go is a good thing.
Sorry I ruffled your feathers. But go ahead, have the last word since that seems to be a thing for you.
@Blue Baron You critiquing anyone’s commenting is very amusing to me.
Glad you enjoy it. Have a good time!
@Jays it’s beyond amusing. The guy replied to him as well. Yet he’s critical of others doing so.
Seems like one of those people online just looking for confrontation as a means of validation for some shortcoming in his life….
Jackie always thought he was better than he is. He was good for a while. But he’s just not a good guy and a nasty POS to boot, so not even the white Sox want him so it seems. I wonder if he’ll retire. Good Riddens.
It’s “good riddance”. 178 iq……sure.
These troll accounts need to be banned.
It was a joke, mocking Jackie’s long since removed tweet from when the Yankees released JD. Insert eye roll here.
Sorry, that was supposed to be for someone named ‘liberalsteve’ just above.
I feel like they changed how the site works in a mobile browser.
Yea that was for dotnet lol who is a troll. And a moron.
Is neither an option?
Rosario is good, even with some defensive shortcomings. Good attitude, as well.
In that lineup on that team its Rosario without question. – That kid will thrive being surrounded by so many formal potential mentors & positive influences..
As a Giants fan, personally we just need someone or something to avoid Estrada or Wilmer playing there so either would be awesome, but I honestly prefer Rosario
As a White Sox fan, Anderson needs an organization with structure, Giants seem to have a good coaching staff, and Bob Melvin is a manager that can handle someone like him. Not saying he’s a guy you should be targeting but just know that the organization has the means to straighten him out, and he’d probably be a productive hitter again.
Yes, either the Giants or the Dodgers. Strong clubhouse, plus with LAD if Anderson is a jackwad, they can bury him on the bench or just plain cut him.
Jeez….scraping bottom with an article on these two guys.
Give me Rosario. If you’re not good enough to stick on the most embarrassing and inept team in all of MLB, then you must be trash.
Their new GM (JR’s most recent lap dog) has signed more minor league deals than major league deals. They made trades to acquire other team’s trash and their roster and farm system is already absolute trash, yet TA isn’t good enough for a roster spot on THAT AAAA team?!
Yeah, I’ll take Rosario.
In fairness, the option being 8 figures for TA is why he is gone. JR reduced payroll anywhere he could ever since last trade deadline.
WSox are pretty harmless these days to get worked up about outside of us fans who wish JR would make his partnership group a fortune selling and move on.
Both guys are Solid besides a down year! Anderson went through a bad divorce from an article that I read so that could’ve a part in his season
Probably didn’t help his marriage by having a child with another woman while he was still married. Wonderful guy.
A pro athlete had an extramarital affair? I refuse to believe it.
ever so slightly in Amed’s favor.. he has a better chin !!..
He can grow a very nice beard.
Would have been a better article if it talked about how they would do squaring up on each other. Anderson is already 0-1 with a TKO, but he might get this one with experience.
Maybe they’d take a deferred contract!!
Right guys???
Right?
Rosario wins on TKO in 6th inn
Funny that every single person in the comments picked Rosario, but the poll stats are basically 50-50.
For the record, I’m a white Sox fan with a SouthSide TA jersey, and Rosario is the correct answer beyond a doubt. TA is going to have a hard time finding a job. TA has a lot of negatives, but most importantly, his defense has spiraled with his hitting, his relationships, his perception, etc.
Giants or Marlins could both use Rosario and i doubt he gets a multi year deal from anyone. I’d give the edge to Miami as they don’t necessarily have SS that could be ready by May or sooner. The Giants might be better signing Nick Ahmed as a place holder til Luciano is ready
@Rsox, Berti had a RTOT of 8 @SS in 64 games last season. Better than any single season Rosario or Anderson have had at SS. They by all means have a SS that is ready for not just Opening Day but also for Spring Training.
Maybe if Anderson signs on with a very talented team he will humble himself a bit and not have such a big o’l chip on his shoulder and he can get back to winning/contending for batting titles..
His ego would fit well on SD.
Anderson has talent, but I’m not convinced he wasn’t a major locker room problem. He got knocked the eff out and no one did anything. Apparently Grandal and him got into it regularly. The White Sox might actually be better than people think just cause the clubhouse is better. Lightly only lose 90 games!
Sad to see any player with talent like that get in their own way as he does. Waste of time and talent. Sadly he probably feels like nobody supports him and is against him. Whether he brought it on himself or not. I have no doubt it affects his confidence/performance in a bigly way.
Hopefully, TA will realize he has an opportunity to make millions of dollars and trains hard….or
He gives up.
Rosario’s only 28? Could have sworn dude was in his mid 30’s.
More garbage AAA players. Neither should be in the MLB but we have too many teams so we get less than mediocre players in the MLB.
And people somehow think we’ll get more teams despite half the league not wanting to spend because they are not sure they’ll get their local TV money. But Robby the robot lets this RSN fiasco continue because his large market masters like that advantage they have.
@This one belongs to the Reds
MLB needs to cut some teams. Far too many AAA teams playing in the league right now. Relegate the bottom 15 teams to AAA.
Reds, Padres, Giants, RSox, Tigers, Indians, Pirates, Mets, Angels, Cardinals, Nationals, WSox, Rockies, Royals & A’s.
@Old York I’d expect a big city dweller to say that. The problem is income disparity by the huge range of local TV deals which gives the large markets an overwhelming advantage.
I think the large markets should be in one league and small markets in another. Let them both get a chance to fight it out at the end.
Statistically speaking player performance is at an all time high by every metric. Also Statistically speaking the number of teams and the talent pool they are drawing talent from is exponentially larger than at any time in the games history. Sorry this nostalgic narrative older fans try to push is statistically false by every metric and mathematically as far as size of talent pool.
Might wanna focus time at yelling at any kid who steps on your lawn Old York…
@Tigers3232
Actually, that’s a false claim about stats.
Hits are down compared to previous years, especially compared to the 1920s/30s. OBP is lower compared to the same time period. BA is much higher in previous years than today. OPS is at the same level it was in the 1930s. You are right though, that SOs are much higher than they were decades ago. I guess if you like to see a game with more strikeouts and less action, sure, enjoy. Personally, I’d prefer to dump half the teams and get back to better quality overall play.
Are you kidding Old York?? Where were HRs, Ks, etc??? I’m sure there was more contact hitting against that inferior pitching that pitched to the point if diminishing performance each and every game.
What is fact balls are being hit harder, pitches thrown harder, pitches having more movement. These are all measurables and all show that performance of today’s players much higher.
As for the talent pool, the population of America alone has tripled in last 100 years. The game also is no longer segregated. They also now draw from an international talent pool. We won’t even get into how exponentially larger scoutings reach is with the internet.
Any notion that talent in the game is down is not just biased and conceived out of ignorance of fact but it is absolutely laughable.
@Tigers3232
Where are the stats to back up your claim of inferior pitching?
As for pitches being thrown harder, yes, they do throw hard, but so did guys like Feller and Walter Johnson, but they were expected to go the full distance or most of the way, so they didn’t come out throwing 98+ each pitch. They knew how to pace themselves and pitch not just chuck the ball like modern pitchers do. It’s no surprise that hits are harder because of the higher velocity but that doesn’t make today’s players significantly better in overall value.
Yes, the talent pool has grown but mainly because we have 30 teams to fill spots with and a lot of the spots aren’t with qualified players. So, for every Ohtani you get from Japan, you’ve got 29 other guys who are essentially replacement level AAA guys.
The stats suggest the talent has declined with more focus on the three true outcomes. You made the claim that the stats aren’t with my argument but I pointed out that a lot of the stats are down compared to before with less teams. I support dumping half the teams and bringing more quality back to MLB.
@Tigers3232
Excellent assessment. Let’s expand and add two more teams.
Then:
1] One league should be comprised of 16 teams with the largest payrolls, the second league to include the 16 remaining clubs.
2] Pitchers mound should be moved back to 63 FT, giving hitters more time to adjust. This would boost offense by increasing contact rates, batting averages, and number of balls in play – while cutting down on strikeouts. The distance from home to 2B measures exactly 126 FT, so this change would place the pitchers mound at the exact midpoint.
@Old York, those stats are on any site with baseball statistics. They would be spin rates and average velocity. Meaning movement of ball and speed of pitches.
I’m gonna assume you are trolling and seriously kind be naive to these facts. If so that would be mind blowing that you are so often on here acting as though you have an educated opinion on the sport while being that clearly ill informed….
@Tigers3232
You can’t really look at recent data in spin rates and suggest that it’s much better, given we don’t have the data from previous years like in the 1960s or 1910s. So, based on what we can actually compare, the stats don’t really suggest anything is better today than before.
Spin rates and speeds have done nothing but climb since the inception of each. And from all old footage and the best they can analyze each it still holds true.
Now you are just being a fool….
@Tigers3232
They were climbing because of…. sticky stuff. And in the past year, it doesn’t seem like MLB is too concerned as the pitchers are still getting high spin rates. So, all that showboating was for nothing and pitchers are still allowed to cheat.
Long before sticky stuff spin rates were climbing. I see you re just ignoring pitching speeds and exit velocities.
Seriously you can look at today’s players and for the most part see superior athleticism. You also are just absolutely ignoring things such as no international players, segregation, and the exponentially greater reach of scouting. But go ahead cling to some false nostalgic view and ignore reality.
Is Rosario a SS? He hasn’t really ever been good there and coming off a season where he was as bad as he was, it’s hard to imagine a team really signing up for that. It’s not like the bat is special enough to make up for the defensive shortcomings. Anderson has at least shown to be decent defensively at the position even if he wasn’t great with the glove this year.
My team needs upside.
Anderson was hurt last year. If he’s healthy again he could be a plus bat.
I’d take the upside potential over Rosario’s more guaranteed meh.
I was told that the Dodgers “fleeced” the Guardians in the Rosario-Syndergaard swap because he hit 3 home runs and his 2B defense was passible
Baez and Story are such busts, they didn’t even mention them, lol. They were major players in that superstar SS market at the time though.
@D-Nice
Roger that. Which just goes to show that, although a flashy FA signing for big $$ might grab headlines and impress the fan base, sustainable winners are built with homegrown talent, smart trades, and under-the-radar transactions like the Rule 5 draft. You need an excellent front office to build a championship team.
I wouldn’t mind Detroit taking a flier on Mondesi. If he can stay healthy, he’s pretty good, IMHO.
Twins have Polanco available. He can play shortstop fairly well:)
Theoretically, Anderson could bounce back at the plate. Rosario ain’t gonna bounce back in the field.
Someone will take a chance on Anderson, but is he worth it to have him in the clubhouse?
Anderson and it’s not close. He had a bad year, one for the books. He played poorly on a bad team and became a laughingstock for getting knocked out in a fight he started. His swagger and loud mouth came back to bite him harder than anyone I’ve ever seen in recent times. Throughout it all, he’s stayed pretty quiet and eaten the crow.
He’s been an all-star. There has to be some positive regression in there somewhere. His floor is about the same as Rosario’s with a much higher ceiling, no disrespect to Rosario. Dodgers, Giants, and the Rays would all be good fits. Hope he is able to turn it around. I always have love for guys who play for Team USA.
Tim Anderson will he fine once he leaves the dogshit White Sox organization.