White Sox, Elvis Andrus agree to 1-year, $3M deal

Infielder Elvis Andrus and the Chicago White Sox have agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract, the team announced Monday.

Andrus, 34, spent the final two months of the 2022 season with the White Sox, filling in for the injured Tim Anderson at shortstop. Andrus is expected to play second base with Chicago, general manager Rick Hahn said, after playing all 1,914 of his career games at shortstop.

"With the change in the shift rules, having someone with range and a strong arm and good instincts is going to be of added benefit in the middle infield. We think Elvis profiles that way,'' Hahn said Monday. "Certainly going to be no doubt that he's going to put the work in to make himself as good as possible at that position and look forward to get starting today.''

After struggling with Oakland over the first four months of the 2022 season, Andrus found his power stroke in Chicago, slashing .271/.309/.464 with nine home runs in 191 plate appearances. Over his 14-year career, Andrus has slashed .270/.326/.371 with 96 home runs and 335 stolen bases.

"The main thing for me, at this point in my career, I want to win and compete,'' Andrus said, "and I know this team is set to do that. ... I think that being able to play here (for the) last month last season, get to know the guys, kind of put a lot of weight towards my decision.

"Playing second, I don't think it's going to be such a big challenge for me. I think it's just put in the work, you know, trying to get the ABC of playing second.''

The White Sox are hoping to rebound from a disappointing 2022, when they went 81-81 and finished in second place in the American League Central division. They signed left fielder Andrew Benintendi to a five-year, $75 million deal and will move Andrew Vaughn from left field to first base, where he'll take over for Jose Abreu, who went to Houston on a three-year, $58.5 million deal.

Chicago also signed right-hander Mike Clevinger, who is currently under investigation by the Major League Baseball for potentially violating the league's domestic violence policy after being accused by the mother of his young daughter of throwing tobacco spit at both. Clevinger denied the accusations and threatened to sue a Chicago radio station that aired an interview with her.

Andrus joins a lineup with plenty of potential with Anderson, Benintendi, Vaughn, center fielder Luis Robert, designated hitter Eloy Jimenez and third baseman Yoan Moncada.

"I think he's going to be fine over there (at second base),'' first-year manager Pedro Grifol said. "He's extremely instinctual. He's a baseball player. We'll have a lot of information for him and he knows how to decipher that and I think he's going to be fine.''

Romy Gonzalez had been in the mix at second, and Hahn said he is going to move around the infield and play the corner outfield spots.

"Very confident Romy is going to help us win ballgames in Chicago in some capacity over the course of this season,'' Hahn said.

The White Sox's starting rotation, which includes Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Michael Kopech, is expected to keep them competitive in an AL Central race with defending champion Cleveland and Minnesota, which re-signed shortstop Carlos Correa.

Left-hander Bennett Sousa was designated for assignment Monday in a corresponding move.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.