Tim Anderson to sign with Miami Marlins

On Thursday morning, Jesse Rogers of ESPN broke the news that Tim Anderson is signing with the Miami Marlins on a one-year, $5M deal. It's the first major league free agent signing of the Peter Bendix era. Anderson would slot in as Miami's starting shortstop. The official signing is still pending a physical and corresponding 40-man roster move.

In 2023, Anderson slashed .245/.286/.296/.582 with one home run, 25 RBIs and a 60 wRC+. Although Anderson had what was the worst season of his career up to this point, looking at every other year, the 30-year-old shortstop had posted a wRC+ over 100 in the past four years, most notably in 2019 where he put up a 128 wRC+ along with a slash line of .335/.357/.508/.865 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. More recently, in 2022, Anderson may have seen a major dip in fWAR, but was still hitting over .300 and had a wRC+ over the league average. Like most players the Marlins have brought in, Anderson would be a bounce-back candidate.

Anderson isn't the same offensive star he once was back in the early stages of his career, but still a lot of reasons to like what he does at the plate. In 2022, Anderson struck out at a 15.7%, but had a more aggressive approach in 2024, with his K% going up 7.6%, but the BB% going up one percent. There is reason to believe that in a big ballpark like loanDepot park, Anderson would benefit given his ability to hit the ball well from gap-to-gap and fit somewhere between the third through sixth spot of a lineup. Even in 2023, he still hit the ball to all sides of the field, but just not as far as he did in years prior.

Defensively, it's been an up-and-down road for the newest Marlin. His best season at shortstop came in 2018 where he had a 12 DRS and ranked in the 94th percentile of outs above average. Looking back at his last great season for the White Sox in 2022, Anderson had a -7 DRS and dropped to the 26th percentile in OAA, so you can say it's more realistic to use those latter numbers as the expectation for him moving forward.

Some rumors have suggested Anderson has been an issue in the clubhouse in the past, but former teammate Jake Burger has insisted otherwise. Also, in a year where the Chicago White Sox lost 101 games, it's easier to understand why veteran players like him could get frustrated.

Anderson's low point was on August 5 in a game against the Cleveland Guardians when he got into a fist fight with José Ramírez and was knocked to the ground by a punch. He would later serve a five-game suspension for the incident.

For Anderson, a fresh start is what he needs, along with a team giving him a chance. A clubhouse with Luis Arraez, Skip Schumaker and other veteran pieces is an environment that should benefit him. He has an opportunity to win baseball games and go to the playoffs, while also re-establishing himself as a reliable shortstop who could earn a much larger contract next offseason, whether that comes from the Marlins or another club.