Could shuffling some Andrews help the White Sox out?

Couldn’t get any worse, at least

With the non-tender deadline doming up on November 22, the White Sox have already let some of their arbitration-eligible players go: Three relief pitchers and the only infielder who could actually catch a baseball except .176 hitter Jacob Amaya, Nicky Lopez. The major decisions are yet to come.

The biggest is the easiest, tendering Garrett Crochet and waiting for all the trade offers to flow in. More difficult are the two first basemen/whatevers, Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets.

With Vaughn expected to get $6.5 million in arbitration and Sheets about half that, no real baseball team would tender either, because they’d have better options available for less. Figuring one WAR is deemed worth about $4.5 mil on the payroll (not inflated free agent values), Vaughn’s 0.2 bWAR would earn him a minor league contract and Sheets’ -1.0 WAR would earn him a ticket home. Both have had four years to show he has what it takes, and neither has done so.

(Yeah, yeah, Vaughn had a nice September. So did Andrew Benintendi and Lenyn Sosa. But unless Grady Sizemore came up with a cure for all three of them that everyone else had missed — maybe “gosh, fellas, maybe you’d should watch the pitcher’s hand instead of his hat bill” — chances are the sudden ability to hit the ball, or re-ability in Benintendi’s case, came because of facing weak and tired pitching as the season wound down and no one wanted to waste a good pitcher on the Sox.)

But this isn’t a real team. It’s the Chicago White Sox, who only seem to have one remote possibility in the minors as a first baseman, Tim Elko. Elko actually hit pretty well at both Birmingham and Charlotte this year, but there must be reasons that the professionals who rate prospects are very down on him. Not a one seems to expect him to be a viable major leaguer.

Of course, real teams would also have a crack at top free agent first basemen. But the White Sox under Jerry Reinsdorf would never enter the bidding for the likes of Christian Walker or Pete Alonso or Carlos Santana, even if one of them would be willing to join a 121-loss team. Bottom-fishing for Ji-Man Choi or Rowdy Tellez, sure, but they’d be unlikely to improve things, though Choi always makes the game more fun.

So it would seem the Sox are doomed to offer arbitration to at least one of their terrible first basemen, right?

Maybe not.

There is another option.

BRING ON THE GREAT ANDREW SWITCH!!

As well as hitting poorly for first basemen, both Vaughn and Sheets stunk defensively in 2024, so there’s little chance putting someone else on first would lead to lesser glove work. So what the White Sox should do is think outside the box — or outside the Sox — and move another Andrew to first instead. Benintendi may once have won a Gold Glove, but he’s been a disaster in left for the Sox, with negative 13 defensive runs saved in 2024 alone and every opponent laughing as they trot to an extra base or two against his noodle arm.

He can’t be worse at first, can he? At least he’d seldom have to throw the ball, except back to the pitcher.

While Vaughn and Sheets can be unloaded, Benintendi and the $17 million or so a year he has coming for three years can’t, so you might as well pay him to try to be useful. Heck, he even might be decent at first, and the chances of trading for outfielders is better than swapping for a first baseman, unless Boston is willing to part with Tristan Casas.

There’s plenty of precedent for outfielders switching to first with success, the most notable current case being Bryce Harper, who has excelled at his new job. Miguel Cabrera also comes to mind as a contemporary who started as an outfielder before moving to third and then first as his legs gave out. Historically, one of the greatest first basemen ever (Stan Musial) began in the outfield. Even Mickey Mantle, fantastic center fielder though he was, moved to first for his last two seasons, making the All-Star team both years. Among lesser lights, even Joe Pepitone was an outfielder in the minors.

Worst case, the White Sox can reduce terrible fielding at two positions to just one. It’s time to ship Benintendi a first baseman’s glove for Christmas, with a subtle note that maybe he should get used to playing with it through the winter, since it will be getting a lot of use come spring.