The Chicago White Sox have brought in a significant amount of former Angels personnel the past few years, and just added to that list. When Chicago saw the Angels bring in Yoán Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Yolmer Sánchez they likely were aghast and subsequently planned their move to go tit for tat. Well, they struck back by adding Brandon Drury to a minor league deal. Drury joins Matt Thaiss, Ky Bush, Edgar Quero, Phil Nevin, Marcus Thames, Matt Wise, and Drew Butera as former Angels staffers to now be with the White Sox.

The Chicago White Sox have agreed to terms with INFs Brandon Drury and Tristan Gray on minor-league contracts which include non-roster invites to spring training.

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) February 7, 2025

All tongue in cheek comments aside, the White Sox and Angels are going bargain bin shopping to find some no-risk players who offer some upside if they get right. Drury was once a silver slugger in 2022, posted great numbers in 2023, but had one of the worst full seasons an Angels position player has ever had last year.

The Angels were established in 1961. From 1961-2024, Drury’s 2024 fWAR was the second worst mark in franchise history. His -2.1 2024 fWAR only trails Luis Polonia’s -2.6 fWAR from 1993 and ranks right above Albert Pujols’ -1.8 fWAR from 2017. His -28.9 fWAR is the fifth worst mark in Angels history, trailing Gary Disarcina in 1997, Bob Boone in 1984, Bengie Molina in 2002, and Disarcina again in 1996. In layman’s terms, Drury slashed .169/.242/.228.470 last year to the tune of 4 home runs in 97 games.

Not only did Drury regress heavily offensively, his 2024 defense also sharply delineated from 2023. Drury, who mostly played second base but played the corner infield spots for the Angels as well, was the Angels’ second most valuable defender in 2023. His 3.1 defensive fWAR only trailed Zach Neto’s 4.4 in his penultimate Angels season. Last year, his -3.3 defensive fWAR ranked 24th on the team (the 6th worst figure on the team).

The stark contrast from 2023 to 2024 is unbelievable — nobody would have picked Drury to post historically bad numbers after he was the Angels’ most valuable non-Ohtani, non-Trout position player in 2023. The White Sox are betting on Drury’s 2024 season being largely due to lingering hamstring issues. His injury log shows a hamstring problem in April, May, and September and he also battled an upper respiratory illness. He likely played through those injuries because he was in a contract year. A minor league contract with the White Sox is a far fall from a once great player, and even playing 60 games instead of 97 could have landed him a major league deal heading into 2025.

The Angels had four full-time major league players from 2024 become free agents: Drury, Hunter Strickland, Matt Moore, and Kevin Pillar. Drury is the first to find a new home.