*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
South beach just got some more personality. The Miami Marlins and SS Tim Anderson have agreed to a one year, $5 million contract, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. The team has made the signing official.
Anderson is coming off a down year in 2023 in which his production plummeted, leading to the Chicago White Sox declining the team option they had for 2024. He finished worst among qualified hitters in home runs and OPS, but the Marlins believe they can bring his prime form back.
Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said "We knew that we were looking for shortstops, that we felt honestly pretty good about the shortstop options that we had in house, but it was still something that we were going to try to look to upgrade. And so there's a lot of different conversations that happen, free-agent conversations, trade conversations. A lot of those conversations happen. Nothing led to an actual deal until this point, but sometimes patience pays off."
Last season was a sharp drop for Anderson as he played through a nagging knee sprain. He managed just a .245/.286/.296 slash line with a .582 OPS and a 60 OPS+, hitting just one home run with 18 doubles and 25 RBI's in 123 games.
The Marlins were in need of shortstop depth, as the only natural shortstop on their 40 man roster was Jacob Amaya. The previous plan was to have utility infielder Jon Berti get everyday reps at shortstop. Marlins shortstops amassed just a .578 OPS in 2023, the worst mark in the league.
What the Marlins are gambling on is that the 2019-2022 form of Anderson returns in a new uniform. He was the only player in the majors to hit .300 or better in each of those 4 seasons. He won a batting title in 2019 and a silver slugger in 2020 while earning down ballot MVP votes. He earned All Star game selections in 2021 and 2022, while his 122 OPS+ over the same 4 year period ranked 7th among qualified shortstops.
Anderson has played all 8 years of his career with the White Sox, debuting in 2016. He has a .282/.312/.422 slash line with a 99 OPS+ to his name, hitting 179 doubles and 98 home runs with 117 stolen bases and 338 RBI's in 895 games. He has 16 hits in 33 plate appearances over 7 playoff games.
The addition of Anderson marks the first major league contract the Marlins have given to a free agent this offseason. The Marlins finished 84-78 in 2023 and made the Wild Card Round before being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies.
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