The White Sox didn't say it in so many words, but they brought back Elvis Andrus with the hopes that he would be not terrible.
From a distance, he wasn't. You can't call .251/.304/.358 good, but pair it with above-average baserunning and the ability to cover shortstop as well as second base, and that's a major-league infielder in the way that Romy González and Lenyn Sosa weren't. The White Sox needed to pay more than $3 million in order to deserve more than that.
One problem: During the time that the White Sox could feasibly consider themselves within striking distance of first place in the AL Central, Andrus was indeed terrible.
- Through April: .206/.274/.245
- Through May: .201/.280/.254
- Through June: .202/.281/.263
- Through July: .208/.285/.279
Once the White Sox waved the white flag and sold off at the trade deadline, Andrus finally sputtered to life. Reminiscent of his late-season surge in 2022, he hit .318/.336/.480 over the final two months. FanGraphs had him at -0.1 WAR before that, meaning he was among the parties very, very culpable in the disappointment beforehand.
The production afterward wasn't all meaningless, but it mostly served the purpose of setting a professionalism bar that most of his teammates weren't able to meet, whether due to subpar effort, talent or both.
If there's any solace, there weren't any clear-cut solutions at second base among Andrus' peers. Obviously the White Sox could've solved the position better if they jumped in the deep end of the free-agent pool and competed for Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Dansby Swanson or Xander Bogaerts, which would've shifted Tim Anderson to second. As long as the White Sox were looking for smaller plays, though, they would've only been able to find small players, with maybe one exception.
Here's how they stack up:
| PLAYER | DEAL | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | BB/K | BA/OBP/SLG | fWAR | bWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrus | 1/$3M | 406 | 20 | 1 | 6 | 25/71 | .251/.304/.358 | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| FREE AGENTS | DEAL | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | BB/K | BA/OBP/SLG | fWAR | bWAR |
| Drury | 2/$17M | 523 | 30 | 3 | 26 | 25/136 | .262/.306/.497 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Segura | 2/$17M | 326 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 22/47 | .219/.277/.279 | -1.3 | -1.9 |
| Frazier | 1/$8M | 455 | 21 | 2 | 13 | 32/68 | .240/.300/.396 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Harrison | 1/$2M | 114 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3/20 | .204/.263/.291 | -0.6 | -0.8 |
| Mendick | 1/$1M | 69 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4/15 | .185/.232/.277 | -0.8 | -0.9 |
There were two better options than Andrus, but only one clearly so. Brandon Drury finished second on the Angels with 26 homers, and that would've been good enough to finish second on the White Sox, too. The metrics are divided on his defense, but within a standard deviation of average on either side. The result is an average player, which is something the White Sox needed more of. Then again, Drury's effect on the White Sox might've been muted because of those ghastly strike-zone numbers, particularly against right-handed pitching (16 walks, 104 strikeouts).
Adam Frazier offered more of a complement with his profile -- left-handed bat, good command of the strike zone, the ability to help in an outfield corner. For the Orioles, that was fine, especially after Gunnar Hernderson upgraded the left side of the infield. For the White Sox, he might've helped the offense, especially since he got lucky on fly balls this year and set a career high with 13 homers. He wouldn't have helped the defense. He graded below-average across the board at second base, and Statcast hated his defense, calling him a bottom-five defender in all of baseball.
Jean Segura had been a popular pick among White Sox fans beyond this past offseason, dating back to a potential fit in some Craig Kimbrel trade scenarios the previous winter. He made an even stronger case for himself with an action-packed postseason performance, at least in the 2022 NLDS win over Atlanta. The Marlins ended up signing him, and the bottom fell out to such an extent that the Marlins sent him to Cleveland in a mutual salary dump for Josh Bell at the trade deadline. The Guardians immediately released Segura, because they were content to take Segura's salary in order to get Kahlil Watson. So Segura is once again a free agent, if anybody wants to take a run at him.
(Kim Ng is now a free agent after she declined her half of a mutual option with the Marlins, and while she has a superior track record to Chris Getz and the Sox would've been smart to keep an ear to the ground for such a situation, I'd question whether she'd be great at operating within Jerry Reinsdorf's salary constraints. With Segura, Avisaíl García, Joey Wendle and Jacob Stallings, there have been a lot of White Sox-like results from signings and trades that were supposed to patch holes.)
Josh Harrison went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs in a revenge game against the White Sox on April 18, then hit .171/.235/.250 the rest of the way. The Phillies designated him for assignment at the end of July to make room on the roster for Michael Lorenzen, and while Harrison found a minor-league deal with the Rangers, he opted out as the end of August approached. Usually the White Sox are the team that gets a veteran role player's last gasps, but it turns out that Harrison did just enough in 2022 for another team to give him one more look.
The White Sox could've really used the kind of player Danny Mendick looked like before Adam Haseley wrecked his knee in 2022, because he was hitting .289/.343/.443 with fine defense at second base over 31 games. The problem was that Mendick had never resembled that kind of player for that long, and the season-ending injury didn't figure to help him in his quest to dodge regression, which is why the White Sox non-tendered him after the season. Sure enough, he couldn't do anything with his opportunities at the MLB level with the Mets in 2023. The solace is that his numbers in Triple-A were up to his usual standards, so it's premature to say he's done. Also, his overall WAR numbers were hurt by giving up eight runs over 1⅔ innings because Buck Showalter asked him to wear it against the Atlanta Braves. He still has two years of arbitration remaining.
The good news ... well, it's more of a neutral takeaway ... is that aside from Drury, Andrus' season is probably the best the White Sox could've hoped for on the whole, even if the way it unfolded gave the team less than the sum. The bad news is that the middle-infield pool looks even more barren this winter, and on both sides of second base. Everybody besides Drury could be back on the market for another spin, and depending on how some option situations shake out, they might be the best the open market has to offer.
