TA 'set up for a beautiful story' with Halos

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin's White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Tim Anderson has no leverage or leg up, fighting for an Opening Day spot for the first time in his decade-long career as a non-roster invitee to Angels Spring Training on a Minor League deal.

The 31-year-old was once an electric player, a two-time All-Star shortstop bat-flipping his way to stardom with the White Sox and authoring the famous walkoff home run against the Yankees into the right-field corn at the inaugural Field of Dreams game in Iowa in 2021. Anderson has been out of baseball since the Marlins released him on July 5, but he is in a better place now after doing extensive work as a player and a person during his time away.

“I can’t say get back to the player I was because it could be different,” Anderson said Wednesday. “But [I want to] just really get back to enjoying the game.

“Stepping away for that long, which I never had, definitely made me appreciate the moment. It definitely made me miss it. It definitely brought back the hunger. Definitely made me come up with how I want to go about it this way.”

Anderson was at the center of a talented White Sox crew seemingly lined up for vast success beginning at the 2016 Winter Meetings. They reached the playoffs in 2020 and won the American League Central in ’21, but finished with just two total playoff victories during that stretch.

Chicago is in its early stages of another rebuild, which Anderson is not a part of after the team used a $1 million buyout instead of picking up his $14 million option before the 2024 campaign. The position-player heart of the White Sox core has moved on, with Anderson joining the Angels, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez signing a Minor League deal with the Rays and Yoán Moncada and José Abreu still free agents.

Anderson doesn’t think that White Sox group necessarily let down its fan base. But it underachieved.

“We did fall short of what the plan was, and it was disappointing,” Anderson said. “We kind of got nothing out of the deal, you know? Just some real moments, but the whole goal was to win a World Series. So, we kind of fell short of that. It goes down to each individual, how bad you wanted it.

“We can look over the course of those years, and we can tell who wanted it and who didn’t, from top to bottom. If you ask people throughout those years who laid it on the line and who fought for what we were trying to accomplish ... that’s enough to say about that.”

As for Chicago’s 121 losses in 2024 that set a single-season record in the Modern Era (since 1901), Anderson was too focused on personal growth to study the shortcomings.

“No, I don’t really think about it,” he said. “My situation felt like it was 220 losses. I didn’t have [any] room to feel bad for anybody.”

Injuries to his left hand (2022) and left knee (’23) knocked down Anderson, who won the American League batting title with a .335 average in ’19 and slashed .288/.316/.442 with 97 home runs, 161 doubles, 104 stolen bases and 18.2 bWAR from 2016-22. Bad habits set in from trying to work around those injuries, leading Anderson to slash .235/.271/.274 with one homer, 21 doubles, 17 stolen bases and -3.5 bWAR in 188 games from 2023-24.

Personal issues off the field also had an effect, according to Anderson, leading to this home journey to Atlanta.

“That goes back into the mental side, and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t,” Anderson said. “Everybody knows that had to play a role into what I had going on.

“You are waking up, and you have your situation on the Internet every day. So of course, it’s hard to find a positive in me from that situation. I understand what corner I put myself in. I understand it all. I’m OK with the work I needed to do to be good mentally.”

Collaborating with Angels manager Ron Washington has Anderson excited, as does working with infield coach Ryan Goins and offensive coordinator Tim Laker. Goins played for the White Sox from 2019-20, and Laker worked in Chicago’s organization from 2011-15.

“So, it’s set up for a beautiful story,” Anderson said. “This is just another challenge that could be positive, that could be a great hurdle, that could be a turning point in my career. I’m excited about it. I’m cool with whichever way it goes. All I can do is go out and do the work and see what happens.”