In a surprising twist to the Mariners’ ongoing fire sale, the White Sox have gotten in on the action.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 30, 2018
In acquiring Alex Colome, the Sox get a proven closer who can slot into the back end of a bullpen that has been lacking one since Joakim Soria was shipped out at midseason. Colome was an All Star with Tampa Bay in 2016 then led the majors in saves in 2017, despite worse peripherals. He struggled for the first two months of 2018, but rebounded after Seattle traded for him in late May, posting a 2.53 ERA in 46 1/3 innings with the Mariners, while striking out 49 and walking just 13.
Colome has two years of arbitration remaining and MLB Trade Rumors projects him to make $7.3 million in 2019. Here’s what Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan had to say about him after that deal in May:
Just generally speaking, Colome is good without being great. He was an All-Star in 2016, but he doesn’t strike batters out like that anymore… Colome leans heavily on a cutter that can get too predictable, but, shortcomings aside, he’ll help patch up what’s been a troublesome area.
The same can likely be said about his role with the Sox.
Meanwhile, the Sox deal away the club’s best hitter in 2018 (still a weird/sad sentence to write). However, despite a surprisingly strong 120 OPS+ and some newfound power, Omar Narvaez remained one of the worst defensive catchers in the league, meaning he was unlikely to be a long-term solution at the position.
With Narvaez headed to the Pacific Northwest and Kevan Smith taking his plus contact and minus throwing to Anaheim, the Sox will have to reallocate about 75% of their innings behind the plate in 2019. Presumably Welington Castillo won’t get suspended again, but with Seby Zavala the next man up on the depth chart, it’s likely that another move is forthcoming before Spring Training.
UPDATE, 3:44 PM: It’s been a busy day for Rick Hahn.
White Sox have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with Leury Garcia and they will non-tender Matt Davidson and Avisial Garcia.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 30, 2018
Hopefully Colome can ballast a young bullpen and shield some guys from spots they are quite ready for. The more I think about the trade, the more I like it. A one or maybe two year deal to someone to complement beef, then hopefully Seby forces the issue and gets a cup of coffee with Collins moving to AAA.
This is more about trusting the Sox’s major league scouting. The premise is that the Sox can get more out of Colome and will lose less in Narvaez. We’ll see how that plays out.
Hahn is talking like he’ll be around for the two years of control. Still, I think part of the premise of the trade is that Coop et. al. can unlock some value.
He’s already good. I think he just needs to do what he’s already doing.
I had getting Colome in my off season plan posted here. Although it was part of a package that also included Haniger, but I’ll take it. On a value for value trade, Sox get the better end of this deal.
The Sox are going through catchers like the Bears go through QBs.
I don’t know how to feel about this. Not thrilled that Castillo’s the (current) last man standing. But maybe kind of encouraged that they’re moving on from guys who aren’t fits?
So I guesss we’ll have to wait until the successive moves.
Narvaez is similar enough to Collins that he’d have to be moved after 2019 anyway.
“Have to” is awfully presumptuous.
True, Narvaez could get non-tendered next year.
I agree…it’d be hard to carry two left-handed first basemen.
3 lefthanded DHs.
Castillo is *probably* better overall than Narvaez and is also *probably* untradeable with the combo of PED/salary. So if they’re looking to upgrade catcher for 2019 then Narvaez was the one to move. That said, there’s no guarantee that whoever they end up acquiring to fill the gap is actually an upgrade.
I’m of the opinion that each offers one plus skill as a hitter and multiple negative skills as a catcher.
I believe the pitching stats that have Omar as basically replacement level moving forward. So it is easy to like this move. Hopefully it means Grandal, or a trade is coming.
At least it means the Sox are going to try to win starting this year. Hopefully, it’s the first of many big, big moves.
This could mean exciting things for the next couple of years. It strikes me as a win-now move. If this is just Hahn setting up another Soria to be dealt, well, ask yourself if you would have traded Narvaez for Kodi Medeiros.
I don’t think they got Colome to flip him like they did Soria. I think those days are ovah.
I would hope not, because that would be disappointing.
…maybe we can flip Colome for Narvaez
Clearly Colome will be part of the package traded for Realmuto.
That would not be disappointing.
Damn right he will be
I look at it like this: if the Sox fall flat on their face and don’t get any serious FA help (a scenario with a depressingly high likelihood, imo), will I be sad that Narvaez is playing for another team? So far, my answer is no. I can’t rule out the possibility that Narvaez has a Flowers-like flowering somewhere else, but damn if I don’t have a hard time seeing him become a player I care about missing out on.
Colome looks okay, Narvaez is a useful-but-not exhilarating piece, and I’m not worried about this turning into a Tatis, Jr. level of regret. Nice enough trade, all around.
I look at it like this: Narvaez would have to make significant improvements to his framing and blocking to be even BELOW AVERAGE in either category. He wasn’t just bad, he was several orders of bad beyond pretty much everybody else. He’d have to sustain his offensive gains and even then would maybe be an average catcher overall who still costs your pitching staff badly.
More moves can obviously be made, but it looks like there might be some big spring training battles for bullpen spots.
hopefully this leads to something good
meanwhile [sic], it’s interesting they traded away a bat-first backstop with a weak glove. remember when they let go of their last good defensive catcher with the reasoning that they’re pretty confident they can teach it? I forget the guy’s name, but it was an anagram for Retry Fellows.
Ouch.
Nevermind
Davidson non-tendered.
That’s a surprise. I think Rick is thinking big this year.
With the addition of Colome, they had a surplus of right-handed relievers.
Never can have too many of those the way pitching staffs are managed now.
watch KC pick him up
Based on last year, he’d hit 90 homers for them!!
No, his primary weakness last season was he didn’t hit against the Royals enough. Signing with the Royals is probably the worst possible use of his talents.
Also Avi, according to Fegan.
I’ve talked myself into thinking this is a worth while gamble. Narvaez’s offense tool was a nice surprise this year and offensive production from your catcher is typically icing on the cake. But his defense was brutal. Maybe he improves to an average level, and maybe he never does and is always a liability.
I see a couple benefits to the deal.
– Replaces a #2 backstop with a proven closer/setup man on the 40 man. I think it’ll be easier to find a backup catcher late in the offseason instead of a reasonably priced closer when the roster gets finalized.
– This seems like a win now move so it sets a good tone to other FA that the Sox are ramping up. It’s totally debatable if that actually works on FAs but I doubt it can hurt.
– Colome’s resume proves he could be a pivotal piece to a playoff team. Not that the sox are going to be one in 2019, but he could be great value for an actual playoff team at the deadline. Or the 2020 deadline. There have been a number of good relievers moved at the trade deadline for prospects or pieces similar to Narvaes’s value, if not more.
Matt Davidson non-tendered. Surprising. If they’re non tendering Frosty, they sure as hell better be non-tendering Avi.
This is starting to set up to be a very interesting winter for the Sox. I think they are going to try to open their competitive window this year. Hallelujah!!
Agreed. Change is good at this point. I’m okay with Davidson for two reasons: strikeouts and D. He’s a lot of one and not much of the other. I like the personality and his perseverance but I’m not gonna get too broken up about dropping guys who helped us set the K record. Avi I’m happy to see go just because 6 years of still not knowing what we have is plenty for me. Change is good.
Davidson was here 5 years and had one good minor league season and one good major league month. Basically Avisail Jr. Like ’em as people, but they aren’t major league starting players. Hope they catch on somewhere and help a winning team, but moving on from them is the right thing to do at this time.
Very well stated.
Yeah, Davidson’s only real value was if he could become a legitimate 2-way player and stick as a bullpen piece, but that’s a bit of a long shot and doesn’t seem to be something the White Sox are interested in.
And if Davidson wants to pitch, he should really explore a minor league deal. Sox did him a favor, freeing him up to explore options
Billy Hamilton non-tendered. How much do you think he’ll sign for on the open market?
His value is tied with his defense as he has clearly shown he won’t be a hitter. The Reds already have the pitcher hitting, so I understand this decision. Defense can disappear quickly in a bad season or because a nagging injury. If defense disappears, Hamilton is as bad hitter as Adam Engel….so I really don’t see too much value here
MLBTR thought he’d get about $6m in arb this year. So if the Reds couldn’t work out a trade, I wouldn’t expect him to get that much more.
About the same as Terence Gore
I’ll miss Omar but I guess this is selling high on him. Another arm in the mix. Okay.
So endeth the Avisail Garcia era
I want to freeze this comment and skate on it and then melt it in the springtime and drink it.
We’ll look back on this day as the day the Sox got serious about winning.
I thought Hawk said that’s how we’d look back on the day that they traded for Avi?
Another reminder of how dumb Hawk is
+1 for Beerfest reference. 14 year old me loved that movie
And the natural replacements for Davidson and Avi are Machado and Harper!
On the whole I like these moves. It means Rick told the agents “Either agree to terms or take your chances on the free market. No farting around with arbitration.”
They’ve all been around long enough and none of them really projects as a consistent 3 WAR player. Time for new blood.
It’s funny the Mariners are replacing a catcher with a good defensive reputation, lots of power, and an otherwise shaky offensive profile with a catcher with atrocious defense, OK power, and an otherwise solid offensive profile.
They are completely tearing that team apart.
I am heartened by the moves today, and also the reaction here. I agreed with the rebuild, but am also of the belief that after a couple years of building assets while the fans eat crap, that it is okay to begin the process of building a roster with some actual decent players around the maturing core. Colome can still be traded, but for now he is a member of what could be a sneaky good bullpen.
Feel the same way about a couple position player pickups. It would be great if 9 guys were ready at the same time but it just doesn’t happen. If a team sitting on a crapload of money wants to sign somebody like McCutchen to play RF instead of some dog crap Cordell/Palka/Engel mix, that’s great. You aren’t blocking anyone that matters, it only costs money, and you give yourself a better punchers chance in a shitty division. I’m sure it would be met with a “LOL someone tell the white sox they won’t compete til 2022” or something, but fuck it. Ready to be more competitive while still operating big picture.
I agree. They are sending a message that they aren’t settling for mediocre anymore. With right field, catcher, 3rd base and center field now open and a boatload of money available, they have a chance to really remake this team this winter. Avi, Davidson and a well-below average defensive catcher have been moved today. The bullpen is stocked with live young arms. They saved about $11 million in projected roster money and added about $7 million while getting a closer in the process. I would expect one or more of Harper/Brantley/Pollock/Cutch/Adam Jones to be manning right/center field. It will be very interesting to see what moves they make over the next few months. I am cautiously optimistic that we will be pleasantly surprised by their moves.
Avi non-tendered, Iglesias non-tendered, everyone loses the Peavy trade!
And in other division news, Tribe close to sending Gomes to the Nats per Rosenthal. Not sure who is coming back, but that’s Gomes, Kipnis, Andrew Miller, and Brantley all departing. Lindor/Ramirez obviously the heart of that team, but at some point defections can test a team’s depth, especially if any of the big 3 pitchers miss time.
Now is the time for the Sox to strike. The Indians could be vulnerable this year.
Yeah, all we need is for Kluber, Clevinger, Carrasco, and Bauer to get traded or hurt and we might be able to get within a few games of them.
That’s the spirit!
I have a crappy drone in my basement I’d be happy to contribute
Dan Jennings and Xavier Cedeno cut loose too. Not sure I understand that. They only projected at 1.5M each in arbitration, having a spare lefty around in the pen is worth it when you consider how quickly they went to Hader. Guess being stuck with Albers at 2.5M has ramifications.
really! Have you seen the cost of kitty Liter?
Costco sells a box for mere $8. It will last forever. You need a forklift to bring it to your car, and it generates a TON of dust that will spread all over the house.
I switched to dust-free kitty litter a few months ago. Catbearpig loves it and cleaning her box no longer requires a respirator.
No one wins. One side just loses more slowly.
I was just thinking the other day about who on the ML roster has any trade value and they would reasonably give up (I don’t see Moncada, Anderson, Rodon or even Abreu being moved.) Narvaez didn’t even come to mind. I would think Seattle could have squeezed a contender for something better at the deadline.
Also, in the grand scheme of things, these non-tenders are fairly minor moves. I think that since it’s been 18 months since the last major move by this team (Quintana) a lot of people are making a bigger deal about this than it’s worth.
Also I wonder if some team is going to sign Maldonado to be a starter. If not, he could be a relatively cheap, strong defense catcher to pair with Castillo.
This is all fine. As pnoles said, the overall intent of the offseason will color my opinion of the colome deal. I just cant see narvaez holding these offensive improvements AND improving defensively. I dont wish avi any ill will, but he needed to go. I would have been fine with them bringing Davidson back, but I also doubt they’ll regret cutting him loose. Ditto bringing back leury. Given the current lack of competition in CF and his low cost, hes got a place on the roster at least for now.
I tendered Avi in my offseason plan, but I think that was just dumb. He is not going to get 8 million anywhere. If the Sox dont have anyone better by the end of the offseason, Avi will probably be there to come back for a one year deal for less than 8 million. Probably same with Davidson. There really isn’t much risk of non-tendering them.
Davidson already would have cost next to nothing. The Sox just had no real use for him. Made more sense to free him up to try to find playing time elsewhere. Also, if he is serious about being a pitcher, this gives him a chance to sign a minor league deal somewhere and try that out.
Realmuto trade INCOMING!
So it’s like we got Colome in the Rule 5 draft.
Eloy doing Eloy things in the DWL. Check out the pimp job on this one
https://mobile.twitter.com/whitesox/status/1068694154774028289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1068694154774028289&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fchicago-white-sox
Cool, but can they ask him nicely to stop playing winter ball? Only bad things can happen.
He has to erm… work on his defense… or something… Kidding, I agree with you
non tendered on both was a good move