White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson entering an uncertain future

Not much went right on the South Side this year, including a miserable season for longtime shortstop Tim Anderson.  No qualified player in baseball finished with a lower wRC+ than Anderson’s total of 60, as he hit only .245/.286/.296 over 524 plate appearances – a stunning dropoff from player who’d posted a 123 wRC+ from 2019-22.

The timing couldn’t have been much worse for Anderson to have a down year, as 2023 was the last guaranteed season of the six-year, $25M extension he signed back in March 2017.  The contract came with a pair of club option years, with the 2024 option worth $12.5M (with a $1M buyout).  That makes for a tricky decision for the White Sox, as paying an extra $11.5M is steep for a player coming off a sub-replacement season.

“All I can do is understand whatever process it is and live with it,” Anderson told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin.  “It’s not my decision if I want to stay or leave.  I just have to hang with them.  I mean I would love to [stay], but I understand if I don’t fit into what they are trying to do.”

An early-season knee sprain resulted in three weeks on the injured list, and Anderson said “the body felt different each day” after he returned.  This partially explains his rough season, but heading into 2024, Anderson said he plans to be fully healthy and to sharpen all aspects of his game, both on offense and defense.  This might even include a new defensive position altogether, as Anderson admitted that it might be time for a move across the middle infield if necessary.

“Really, at this point, it doesn’t matter.  I’m a shortstop/second baseman,” Anderson said.  “It’s whatever to allow my career to keep going.  I’m not going to wrestle with a team that I’m this or I’m that.  It’s just an honor and a blessing to fit in any lineup as a starter considering how hard this game is.  Short would be my first choice, but I also understand how older guys are viewed, now that I’m stepping into that phase, which sucks and is different.  I just want to continue to keep building on what I started and get back to what I used to be.”

Public defensive metrics have been down on Anderson’s glovework for each of the last two seasons, so beyond adding positional versatility to his resume, it also might make more sense from a pure baseball perspective for Anderson to explore a move to second base.  The 30-year-old had exclusively played as a shortstop at the MLB level before this season, when he made two appearances at second base in order to help manage a minor shoulder issue.

Colson Montgomery is also a shortstop, as well as Chicago’s top prospect and ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 17th-best minor leaguer in the sport.  Montgomery hit well in his first taste of Double-A ball and should be in line to make his big league debut at some point in 2024, if all continues to go well for the 22nd overall pick of the 2021 draft.  If Montgomery might be the shortstop of the future, Anderson moving over to second base while still working as a mentor to the rookie would seem like an interesting possible scenario for the White Sox.  As well, it isn’t as if the Sox are deep in second-base options, as Chicago second baseman combined for a -0-4 bWAR in 2023.

Anderson and new White Sox GM Chris Getz spoke earlier this week, and while Anderson didn’t get into specifics about their conversation, “his ultimate goal is really trying to fix what’s going on here.  And I get that.”  Speaking with reporters prior to talking with Anderson this week, Getz said no decision had yet been made about the infielder’s club option, since the topic “deserves an exhaustive discussion because of what he has meant to this organization.”