Reunion With Andrus Comes At Right Price For White Sox

Some deals are tough good to pass up.

For only $3 million, the White Sox are reacquiring Elvis Andrus. He outplayed the Sox’s top shortstop, Tim Anderson, last season but is shifting over to second base to play alongside Anderson.

Much of the team’s hope for 2023 is based on Anderson returning to his level of play before a ’22 season that was hampered by injuries and suspensions resulting from his own frustration. He has been a bargain throughout the long-term deal he signed before his first full season, which included club options for ’23 and ’24, but the Sox appear to be taking their time before exploring an extension of that deal. Anderson will earn $12.5 million this season and $14 million next season if that option is exercised.

They have a shortstop coming in Colson Montgomery, their first-round pick in 2021, but he figures to start this season in Double-A. So in the meantime they’ll have two potentially excellent shortstops in their lineup every day, which is seldom a bad idea. Andrus has never played second base but agreed to a fill a void there in his age-35 season after receiving no offers from teams that would make him their regular shortstop.

Andrus would be digging in for his third season in Oakland but the Athletics apparently grew leery of his $15 million vesting option for 2023. He needed to average 3.65 plate appearance in the last 45 games to reach the 550 mark, which would have allowed him to turn a team option into a player option, when he was released on August 17.

His availability was perfect for the White Sox. They were trying to reach the postseason under Tony La Russa and had just lost Anderson to an injury that required surgery on a torn ligament in his left hand, and Andrus was immediately a plus.

Always hard to strike out, he hit the ball harder in the air, did damage to fastballs like he had earlier in his career and put together a slash line of .271/.309/.464 in 43 games with Chicago. He cut his home run rate from his previous four seasons almost in half, hitting 17 between Oakland and Chicago. He made an impression with his steady fielding and alert base running for the White Sox while racking up 2.0 rWAR over that short stint.

The law of large numbers suggests the White Sox should not expect Andrus to be as productive over a full season. But if he does anything close to that as a second baseman he’ll be a strong All-Star candidate, and certainly a serious upgrade over the cast of job applicants already in Arizona.

It’s almost shocking that Andrus is willing to play for $3 million a season. His last contract was for $120 million over eight years, signed after he’d twice had All-Star seasons that ended with the Texas Rangers winning American League pennants.

Before landing Andrus, it appeared the White Sox had run out of money to spend. He moves their payroll beyond $180 million, which is a lot when you consider it does not include the team’s best player over the last nine years, Jose Abreu. The team’s entrenched front office combination of Rick Hahn and Ken Williams is taking heat — as is the team’s chairman, Jerry Reinsdorf — and was smart to import Andrus rather than allow the likes of Romy Gonzalez, Jose Rodriguez, Lenyn Sosa and Hanser Alberto to compete for the job.

Andrus makes the White Sox better. He also gives them intriguing options to sort through at the trade deadline if they fall too far behind Cleveland and Minnesota. This was a smart deal from everyone’s perspective, including Andrus. Someone outside of Chicago will notice if he picks up where he left off on the South Side.