Marlins cut another flailing veteran hitter: Tim Anderson

[Ely Sussman]

That may have been the last we'll see of Anderson in the major leagues.

The Tim Anderson era is over in Miami, as first reported by Craig Mish of SportsGrid on Tuesday. Anderson has been designated for assignment with the expectation that he'll be released in the coming days. Just a week removed from his 31st birthday, he has rapidly declined from perennial American League batting title contender to one of MLB's least-valuable players.

Anderson was the most expensive pickup of an uneventful 2023-24 Marlins offseason, signing a one-year, $5M deal in late February. The club handed him their starting shortstop job despite struggling mightily with the Chicago White Sox the year before (.245/.286/.296, 1 HR, 13 SB, 60 wRC+, -0.2 fWAR in 123 G). Given his age and impressive track record, Anderson looked to be a logical bounce-back and change-of-scenery candidate, plus none of Miami's in-house alternatives at the position were particularly exciting. It was the epitome of a low-risk, high-reward move.

Unfortunately, Anderson did virtually nothing to "reward" the Marlins' faith in him during his half-season tenure. I expressed my concerns in early May and he made no improvements from there. He was useless offensively, lacking any semblance of plate discipline or power (.214/.237/.226, 0 HR, 4 SB, 31 wRC+, -1.2 fWAR in 65 G). At shortstop, his defensive performance was mixed at best.

TA departs on a particularly low note. During Sunday's Marlins loss, he committed a crucial error that helped the Philadelphia Phillies score two unearned runs, then struck out swinging on a non-competitive pitch to make the final out.

 

Anderson's DFA continues a trend. Last month, the Marlins moved on from outfielder Avisaíl García and catcher Christian Bethancourt. That veteran trio had more than $30M of guaranteed money remaining on their contracts. Dane Myers essentially replaced García on Miami's active roster, Ali Sánchez replaced Bethancourt and now Xavier Edwards will replace Anderson. Each of the newcomers are five-plus years younger than their predecessors. Midway through a non-competitive season, the Marlins are reallocating playing time toward guys who could have a future with their organization.

It'd be a shame for Anderson to vanish from baseball so suddenly. Here's hoping that he finds a way to reinvent himself and resurface as a viable big leaguer in 2025.

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[MRDHU75]

I really really wanted this to work, but with the way the team has imploded it didn't make sense to keep him.

I am excited to see X. Edwards get a shot, finally.  I imagine he platoons with Brujan.

Hopefully he provides some excitement.

[One Regend]

Good that they're finally cutting bait. First Avi, and now TA7.

If Josh Bell doesn't get it together, he may very well be next. He has a .644 OPS in his last 28 games, which is the entirety of June, clearly indicating this isnt an early season slump. This is a hard decline for a guy who isn't getting any younger at Age 31. No one on the trade market wants a 1B/DH type guy who can't get on base nor hit home runs.

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

I also thought signing Anderson in February was worth a shot - change of scenery, and the like. Now, I applaud the Marlins for their willingness to move on here, as they did (finally) regarding Garcia. Is there any chance someone else will take a chance on Anderson? I don't see much of anything to hang one's hat on, but perhaps he will get a deal somewhere as a late-season insurance policy against a starter injury. 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

I just heard David Samson's podcast segment this morning (the 3rd) regarding the Tim Anderson DFA. I'm not a Samson fan (no self-respecting Expos fan can be), but I acknowledge information he provides adds to the discussion of the Marlins' financial position (even taken with the obligatory grain of salt). 

[Ely Sussman]

16 hours ago, One Regend said:

If Josh Bell doesn't get it together, he may very well be next.

In Bell's case, at least his recent history includes some stretches of good baseball. For what it's worth, he really is a leader in the clubhouse. I think it makes sense to keep trotting him out there until the deadline, then moving on if there are zero takers.

[Ely Sussman]

1 hour ago, THOMAS JOSEPH said:

Is there any chance someone else will take a chance on Anderson? I don't see much of anything to hang one's hat on, but perhaps he will get a deal somewhere as a late-season insurance policy against a starter injury. 

That would shock me. There was a big gap between his performance and the bare minimum that a competitive team looks for from a backup. I expect him to be out of baseball for the rest of the season, then try to reboot his career next spring.

[Ely Sussman]

2 hours ago, THOMAS JOSEPH said:

I just heard David Samson's podcast segment this morning (the 3rd) regarding the Tim Anderson DFA. I'm not a Samson fan (no self-respecting Expos fan can be), but I acknowledge information he provides adds to the discussion of the Marlins' financial position (even taken with the obligatory grain of salt). 

I listened as well. While the team's lack of local revenue is legitimately a hindrance, I do not buy his insistence that the franchise as a whole is losing money every year. The Marlins are buoyed by their split of national league revenue and what they receive from larger market teams via revenue sharing.

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

On 7/3/2024 at 12:07 PM, Ely Sussman said:

I listened as well. While the team's lack of local revenue is legitimately a hindrance, I do not buy his insistence that the franchise as a whole is losing money every year. The Marlins are buoyed by their split of national league revenue and what they receive from larger market teams via revenue sharing.

True enough, although the Dodgers' deferral mechanism takes current money out of the CBT system. This circumvention is apparently legit, but it also certainly damages the principle of the tax. If baseball allows this mechanism to continue, on-field competitiveness will further suffer, creating three or four teams in each league that dominate the regular season, dampening fan involvement/expectations, and relying on the expanded playoffs to create occasional Cinderella championship teams. As Forbes magazine noted, the disparity is a sustainability issue for the league. The Marlins also borrowed $400 million in the purchase package, and it's reasonable that there were significant losses stemming from the 2020 season. Now, we have over thirty percent of the payroll non-contributing. It's a tricky situation that can only be mitigated and managed, I believe, by utilizing the Rays-esque approach Bendix is implementing.