Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has reached a settlement with Major League Baseball regarding the suspension for his fight earlier this month with Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez. Anderson's suspension, originally six games, will be reduced to five and he'll begin serving it on Friday, the league announced.
Anderson, 30, is in the midst of a putrid season. In 92 games, he's hit .238/.285/.284 (58 OPS+) with one home run and 11 stolen bases. Those marks are well below his career norm, and have landed him on the wrong side of the replacement-level line. To be fair to Anderson, he's dealt with numerous injuries throughout the year, including to his knee and shoulder. Only he can be certain about how much those ailments have impacted his play.
Anderson was not the only individual suspended for the brawl. Anderson's sparring partner, Ramírez, was initally suspended for three games but had that ban reduced to two contests. Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, manager Terry Francona, and third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh were each both parked for a game, as was White Sox skipper Pedro Grifol.
The White Sox, off on Thursday, will begin a weekend series on Friday on the road against the Colorado Rockies. Anderson will also miss the first two games of Chicago's series at home vs. the Seattle Mariners next week.
Of course, it's not as though the White Sox have much riding on these contests. Chicago entered Thursday with a 48-73 record on the year, good for fourth place in the American League Central. The White Sox are 6.5 games back of the third-place Detroit Tigers, but are far enough ahead of the Kansas City Royals (9.5 games) to envision them sticking in fourth the rest of the way.
