White Sox, Tim Anderson talking multi-year deal

According to MLB.com's Scott Merkin, the White Sox are discussing a long-term extension with shortstop Tim Anderson. The White Sox are "no commenting" the report and no announcement is expected today. For what it's worth, Jon Heyman confirmed the report.

Anderson has been out of the lineup the past three days with a "personal matter". Serious negotiations regarding a multi-year deal that would presumably buy out at least some arbitration years, if not free agent years, would certainly rise to the level of a personal matter that might distract him from relatively meaningless spring training games.

The 23-year-old made his debut with the White Sox last June and hit .283/.306/.432 with 10 steals in 12 attempts while playing good defense at shortstop.

Signing Anderson to a long-term deal would signal that the White Sox want to make Anderson, their top pick in the 2013 draft, the face of the franchise during this rebuild. Given that Anderson doesn't even have a year of service time and wouldn't be eligible for free agency until after the 2022 season, the White Sox would likely be able to sign Anderson to a very favorable monetary deal. On the other hand, 99 major league games are a small sample size so, while these pre-arbitration extensions tend to be very, very favorable to clubs, there's a bit more risk than usual given his short track record and some obvious flaws in his game. For Anderson, who recently welcomed a daughter to his family, signing a deal that would likely guarantee him 8 figures would set him up for life.

As a long-standing Tim Anderson fan, I approve.