Tim Anderson wants to stay with White Sox

The 2022 campaign for Tim Anderson was ended sooner than he wanted it to be. After a torn tendon in his left middle finger put him on the Injured List at the beginning of August. Now that he’s healthy and back in camp, the two-time all-star expressed the desire to stay with the Chicago White Sox longterm.

“kind of (wants) to know where (his) feet are going to be at the next whatever years it is,” Anderson noted speaking with Scott Merkin of MLB.com.

Since his arrival in Chicago in 2016 as a rookie, Anderson has looked comfortable. He got off to a quick start and finished seventh in rookie of the year voting. In the COVID-19 shortened season in 2020, the now 29-year-old finished seventh in MVP voting and earned a silver slugger award. The past two seasons he has earned a trip to the mid-summer classic.

“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.”

The two sides have already worked out one longterm 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. He’d have to have a disastrous season for the organization to consider the buyout. However, that departure could be imminent and it’s not known if the White Sox have the same sense of urgency.

A deal for Anderson this time would have to be at a different financial level. Especially, with Tim Anderson being closer to free agency now than he was during the first long-term deal. A discount is not something the shortstop is looking to give.

“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.”

Comparisons

If Anderson plays out the contract (with the club option in 2024 excercised), he’d enter free agency at 31. That is two years older than Trevor Story and Javier Baez were when they signed their free agent deals. As well, as two years older than Dansby Swanson who signed his free agent deal this offseason. He would, however, be the same age as Marcus Semien two years 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.

When comparing Anderson to Baez or Swanson, he might not have the same caliber of defense either. However, he typically rates as a slightly above-average shortstop by public metrics like DRS and Statcast’s Outs Above Average.

The comparisons lend a rough idea on what kind of deal Tim Anderson could get 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 organization has never guaranteed more than $75MM to an individual player, like they did to Andrew Benintendi on his five-year deal. Anderson could reasonably look to more than double that amount.

Though, there was no interest in trading Anderson, the organization still hasn’t shown any signs of commiting to him either. There could be some doubt on his long-term future with the team, if a deal doesn’t get done this spring. The White Sox are hoping to return to postseason contention this season.

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