The Chicago White Sox made two club option decisions

The Chicago White Sox have had a brutal 2022 season. Now, that time of year has come to address what happened so that they can make it better for 2023 and beyond. It is going to be hard but the process is finally beginning.

They already hired Pedro Grifol to be the new manager of the team. He is going to replace Tony La Russa who just wasn't able to get the best out of this club in the way that they thought he was going to.

Now, they are also making some announcements regarding player statuses. The White Sox exercised their option on Tim Anderson which was incredibly predictable. However, they declined the option on Josh Harrison.

Anderson will make 12.5 million dollars which has the potential to be an incredible value contract based on how good he has been and continues to be. He hit .301/.339/.395 with 13 doubles and six home runs in 79 games last season. He was an All-star once again.

Of course, the big issue surrounding Anderson is the fact that he only played in 79 games which is very low for him. He is normally very reliable but he had to have some hand surgery mid-way through the season and never returned. If they were playoff bound, he probably would have come back.

The Chicago White Sox made some big player decisions on Monday.

As for Harrison, they declined to pay him 5.5 million for 2023 and chose to pay him 1.5 million in a buyout. That is tough news for the elder second baseman on the team but they need upgrades. This team needed to be honest with itself and that is a part of it right there.

Harrison might still have some good things to give to a team but not this White Sox team. They are trying to take a step as an organization and were so close before taking a step back in 2022. Now, they need a lot to take a big step forward again.

A lot of player/team options were concluded on Monday as well so the free agent pool is now even bigger than it was. Harrison joins many other good players out there looking for jobs in 2023 and beyond.

This isn't a guarantee that he won't be back if they absolutely needed to sign him but they certainly won't be obligated. There were some fun moments for Harrison but the team around him didn't do him any favors either. As for Anderson, he will be relied on heavily to try and help bounce this team back.