The Chicago White Sox faces an unenviable decision with Tim Anderson. There are three paths they can go down. Trade him when his value is at an all-time low, hold onto him and pick up his $14 million dollar player option for 2024, or extend in the hopes that he can bounce back.
The White Sox would be wise to pick up that option and give Anderson another chance to redeem himself next season.
Anderson has arguably been the face of the franchise since winning the batting title with an MLB-best .335 batting average in 2019. In 2020 Anderson earned an AL Silver Slugger Award at shortstop with a 140 wRC+ and finished 7th in the AL MVP voting. He was an American League All-Star in 2021 and an All-Starter in 2022. Coming into the 2023 season, he owned an MLB-best .318 batting average since 2019. Along the way, he became the first player in White Sox history with three consecutive top-five finishes in the AL batting title race.
The bigger the stage, the better he tends to be. He hit a walk-off home run against the New York Yankees at the inaugural Field of Dreams Game in front of a nationally televised audience in 2022. He also owns a .485 batting average in his seven career postseason games.
However, there is no denying that Anderson has been bad this season. It has been over a year since he last hit a home run. Out of 150 qualified hitters through the 2023 All-Star break, Anderson’s 43 wRC+, .259 OBP, .263 slugging percentage, and .234 wOBA ranked dead last. His .223 batting average placed him at 134 out of 150, while his -1.1 fWAR ranked 148 out of 150 and his .281 xwOBA ranked 145th out of 150.
His struggles have translated over to the offense as a whole. It has been proven time and time again that this offense goes as Anderson goes.
His 15 career leadoff home runs are the second most in franchise history. Most of those came during the 2021 season when the offense ranked seventh in runs scored, fifth in batting average, and third in on-base percentage. Anderson regressed in 2021 due to injury and the offense also took a step back.
This season the White Sox are 23rd in the MLB in runs scored, 20th in batting average, 29th in OBP, and 23rd in OBP, with Anderson floundering at the top of the lineup.
But to think that Anderson all of a sudden forgot how to hit and is disingenuous. Which is why the White Sox would be wise to hang onto him.
There are a few contributing factors to Anderson’s struggles that cannot be overlooked. For starters, his off the field distractions.
Getting a hit in the MLB is one of the hardest things to do in sports and MLB pitchers are nastier than ever. If a player fails every seven out of ten times, he is considered a great hitter, something that Anderson has proven he can do on a consistent basis. Learning to deal with failure is one of the reasons baseball can be so mentally taxing on a person.
Trying to hit in the MLB while dealing with off the field distractions makes that task nearly impossible. Anderson has been dealing with a whole lot of drama in his personal life. Most of this drama has been dragged into the light for the public to see. You don’t have to feel sorry for Anderson since it was self-inflicted. But he is not the first person or last professional athlete to cheat on his spouse. That doesn't make it right but you are lying to yourself if you don’t think it is factoring into his struggles.
Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. Having to repair a marriage and balance being a father to multiple children with two different mothers all while you are getting trashed by fans who once loved you would make it difficult for any normal human to focus on their day-to-day job. Only Anderson’s day job isn’t a 9 to 5 at the office, it's staring down the barrel of a 95 mph fastball.
The last time we saw Anderson struggle like this was in 2017 when his best friend, Branden Moss, was tragically killed early in the season. Issues in one’s personal life can bleed over into work. It’s natural.
Anderson is also coming off a torn ligament in his hand that forced him to miss the end of last season. Even in what was considered a down year, Anderson managed to hit .301 but he hasn’t looked right since that injury-riddled 2022 campaign.
In the midst of these struggles, it’s also easy to forget just how hard it is to make in-season adjustments in the MLB. Making adjustments during the season can lead to increased struggles as the player gets used to whatever adjustments they are making.
What Tim Anderson needs is an offseason to reset. This year is an outlier not who he is as a hitter. In the meantime, the White Sox can do some things to remedy the situation like moving him down in the batting order to minimize the damages.
But, if the White Sox are planning on retooling for another shot at contention next season (and all signs point that way, given the White Sox list of untouchables), trading Anderson makes no sense. The White Sox will not find a better shortstop for less than $14 million on the open market. Neither Colson Montgomery nor Jacob Gonzalez will be MLB-ready next season. Even if they were, it would be unfair to ask a rookie to play that big of a role on a contending team.
Shipping out Anderson while his stock is low also makes no sense. Trading a two-time All-Star for some middling prospects (which is what they would get at the moment for Anderson) does not make the White Sox any better in the short or long term.
He hasn’t earned an extension with his level of play this season and has already stated that he will not be taking any hometown discounts. If the White Sox truly believe they have their shortstops of the future in Gonzalez or Montgomery, there is no harm in bringing Anderson back for another season. If he bounces back, then they can offer him an extension. If he prices himself out of Chicago, then they have insurance.
Tim Anderson’s track record has earned him the benefit of the doubt and the right to struggle. He has done too much for the South Side on and off the field to get shipped out of town for pennies on the dollar.
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