White Sox rumors: Nomar Mazara a maybe, Gerrit Cole a LOL
UPDATE: And just as I hit “publish,” Nomar Mazara is on his way to the White Sox. Another post coming when the cost is certified.
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Before the second full day of the Winter Meetings entered the evening hours, the only action potentially involving the White Sox required you to believe that they could be a mystery team for Gerrit Cole.
(Spoiler: They aren’t. Cole just signed with the Yankees for nine years and $324 million.)
For rumors involving the White Sox by name, you’ll have to settle for Jim Bowden and Scott Merkin’s one-two punch of tepid trepidation.
Nomar Mazara would have been a fine acquisition for a team like last year’s White Sox, who had little in the way of corner outfield depth and had 550 plate appearances to give to a 24-year-old player who hasn’t unlocked the talent he occasionally shows.
And perhaps if the White Sox acquired Mazara last winter, he would have never victimized Reynaldo López to such a staggering degree in June.
But despite the occasional explosion, Mazara can’t hike his OPS above league average, and he can’t get over 20 homers. If you want to phrase it euphemistically, the consistency is impressive.
| Year | Age | G | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 21 | 145 | 568 | 137 | 13 | 3 | 20 | 64 | 0 | 2 | 39 | 112 | .266 | .320 | .419 | .739 | 93 |
| 2017 | 22 | 148 | 616 | 140 | 30 | 2 | 20 | 101 | 2 | 2 | 55 | 127 | .253 | .323 | .422 | .745 | 90 |
| 2018 | 23 | 128 | 536 | 126 | 25 | 1 | 20 | 77 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 116 | .258 | .317 | .436 | .753 | 96 |
| 2019 | 24 | 116 | 469 | 115 | 27 | 1 | 19 | 66 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 108 | .268 | .318 | .469 | .786 | 96 |
You can isolate reasons for the Sox’s interest. Like most other players in 2019, Mazara hit homers at an increased rate, but he also hit fewer grounders to help himself. His splits also widened, as his OPS against righties (.844) was nearly 200 points higher than it was against lefties (.646), but that makes it easier to forge a useful career than middling splits against both. Hey, maybe the Sox could acquire Mazara for little — he can’t have that much trade value for a $5.7 arb figure — then sign Avisaíl García and cross their fingers for a manic period from their Codependent Voltron.
The problem is that the White Sox show no special talent for getting more out of a tease. They’ve run out plenty of their own Mazaras over the years, from García to Dayan Viciedo to Gordon Beckham to Mark Teahen. The White Sox have been short on helpers for a decade, and Mazara wouldn’t help if he’s feeding into the White Sox’s chief problems (below-average defense, too few walks, too many strikeouts for not enough homers) in the quest for a painstaking brand of average.
Basically, a move for Mazara in and of itself is a year too late, and it’s no coincidence that the other teams interested in Mazara are where the So were last season.
If this happens to be the outfield transaction that Twitter doesn’t spoil for Hahn, there is a way they could benefit from his presence. It would just require the Sox to do something they haven’t yet accomplished. “Fingers crossed” is not a strategy, but “acquiring a better right fielder in the coming days or weeks” qualifies as such.
That “better right fielder” is probably not going to be Marcell Ozuna. It seems as though there won’t be a second wind for that particular White Sox rumor.
And yes, the Reds’ interest has a second source.
Author
They did it. Ugh.
Sox bid for Jones was higher but he chose to be much further away from family.
Jon Heyman
@JonHeyman
Adam Jones (Orix, Japan League): $8M guaranteed for 2 years, third-year option
Swing an a miss, strike one for Hahn
If he’s the starter, and if they really gave up Steele Walker for him, I just… I don’t know. I can’t.
Yeah I dont know what’s worse, the fact that they see him as a solution or that they actually gave up a real prospect for him.
I’m not a fan of this as the primary solution for RF. I’m hoping it’s just a minor move to hedge their bets with a competitive free agent market for Ozuna/Castellanos while they’re still trying for one of them (can always bat one at DH against RHP).
Cole just agreed with the Yankees.
Yep, I just edited my post when I saw that. It was tongue-in-cheek anyway. Of course they weren’t going to get Cole.
boooo
Meh, he’s fine as a strong side platoon
For everyone hoping that Mazara will be a 4th OF…please…you know the Sox will be starting him in RF. I strongly doubt they have the insight to platoon him, either. So they will have given up Steele Walker + $6M for a player who projects to produce less than 1 WAR.
This is exactly like the stupid moves Hahn made previously when the Sox decided that they couldn’t pay market rate for top tier talent…they overpay for replacement level talent that then underperforms.
I can’t express how ridiculous this looks in terms of “the money will be spent”.
Oh, they’ll platoon him alright … with Engel (although he did have a 125 wRC+ last year against lefties vs. his career 83 wRC+ against them).
Don’t like it, especially giving up Steele Walker who is still a decent prospect. However, Manzara was actually better against right handed pitching than Kole Calhoun last year, so he is probably a cheaper, more upside potential platoon partner with Leury Garcia than my offseason plan. I am just hoping the Sox will put some of those savings into a starter and some bullpen help.
Why not just sign Corey Dickerson to a 2 year deal at $8M a year, get someone who can actually generate offense, and keep the prospect?
Even if the Sox decided they needed to go cheap in RF, there were smarter things they could have done.
I agree that Dickerson would have been a much better option.
I like it. A lot. Put me on the board. Write it in big letters!
Yep, you just got them a left handed bat for RF, who is better overall than what they traded for, and who isn’t useless against left handed pitching unlike what they traded for, and you kept one of their few valuable prospects while you did so.
Mazara is 5 years younger than Dickerson and Walker is nothing special.
Young and shitty is still shitty.
A horrible move, by a horrible organization.
Just when I thought I was in, they push me back out. Apparently we’re trying the stars & scrubs roster construction theory again. The guy’s still young and can have a breakout season, I just don’t see the Sox being the ones to help turn the corner.
Instead of getting Cole, we get coal in our Christmas stocking with this joke of a trade.
So he could have a”breakout season” but you won’t like it?
I’m fine with the trade itself. Mazara and Walker are actually remarkably similar players at the moment:
– 2019 OPS M-.786 (in MLB) W-.811 (in A-ball)
– Age M-24 W-23,
– Defensive projection for both: below avg. corner outfielder
The difference is that Mazara has very real upside and Walker probably does not. He can’t play CF in the majors and he won’t do anything well enough to play in a corner. If I’m comparing 6 years of Walker to 2 years of prime Mazara, I think the Sox get the better deal.
Still disappointing is that the Sox have passed on a chance to add a guaranteed plus hitter to our lineup. Still, it’s good to get young lefty power and maybe Nomar outhits Castellanos and Ozuna next year. I look at this like the McCann acquisition from last year–guy in his 20’s, untapped potential; maybe right time, right place.
Also, Rangers fans sound disappointed to see him go. I take that as a good sign.
I fully agree. I was about to post the same thing. Also, Menechino might be a factor to get more ou of him as he comes into his peak.
Walker? Meh.
Good lord if the McCann signing is now the model going forward this is even worse than I thought.
I like this move Mazara has significant upside. Four of his ten similar batters through age 24 at BR include Baines, Dwight Evans, Jay Bruce and Andre Dawson.
He gets the first shot at RF while Basabe, Adolfo, and Rutherford continue to develop. Pederson is scheduled for free agency after next year too. I’m just happy they didn’t lock themselves into a guy like Castellanos for years to come.
Sox continue to garbage pick players from other teams dumpsters. Deal for that bum from Texas is official. Sox give away their 6th best prospect. What a joke…
This team will continue to be “Mired in Mediocrity’.
Sure is great the Sox cleared the deck of payroll commitments so they could *Checks notes* trade for a cheapish platoon player who is somehow probably still too expensive for his production and for whom a best case outcome requires the Sox to display sudden proficiency in an aspect of the game that has plagued them since forever.
I mean, yeah, maybe this is a nothing move, but come the eff on. It’s very reassuring that missing out on their primary pitching target has forced the Sox to reset to their default setting of trying to rehab other team’s problem children. Could they not get the Rangers to toss in Rougned Odor? He had a pretty good offensive season 3 or 4 years ago. Ripe for the picking. All I can picture is Rick Hahn sticking his head in the Rangers’ kitchen window and saying, “You fat cats didn’t finish your plankton!”
If there’s any silver lining, it’s that this smacks of the profoundly disappointing James McCann signing, and hey that worked out, sort of.
Who’s the last position player the White Sox actually improved instead of setting what’s left of their career on fire?
Leury Garcia. A young OF from the Rangers Organization.
A lot of you are overreacting to hell and back and acting like Walker was a Robert tier prospect or something. Hes a year younger then Mazara with pretty much the same tools. People are bitching about the Sox not spending money but it seems like you already forgot they signed Grandal and offered the most for Wheeler. We dont know how serious the Sox were in the Ozuna chase but this offseason has been different then the rest on the surface. But if a player isnt going to take the money that from all accounts we have heard is actual cash instead of the nonsense from last offseason what do you want the Sox to do.
I dont think Mazara is going to set the world on fire. But if they missed on the targets they wanted up to this point then ill take this for now over them signing some late 20’s early 30’s guy like Adam Jones to hope he has something left in the tank.
I’m not broken up about losing Walker. I’m just baffled as to why you’d pay a replacement level player $6M when there are perfectly good free agents still available.
Now is not the time to wait around for Mazara to turn the corner. I thought they understood that when they brought Grandal in. Why not redirect some of the Wheeler money to Ozuna or Castellanos instead of going back to the bargain bin?
Ah well if they say they offered the most for Zach Wheeler, who are we to complain when the team misses the playoffs for the every-th straight time of Hahn’s tenure this season?
So now just offering money counts as spending it? Is that where we are as a fan base? You know why Gerrit Cole is a Yankee? Because they asked him how much it would take for him to play there and they fucking paid him that amount. But no, even when we offer normal deals we still play around and do stupid shit and then get suck with mediocre talent that Hahn and Co. will try to sell as us some giant heist. I hope this turns out like the first Eaton trade but we have a hell of a lot more data on Mazara than we did on Eaton and I just don’t see this being anything that actually improves our team.
I had us getting Mazara for Rodon in my (late, unpublished) OPP, so I can’t be unhappy with what we gave up.
The Knights went from a 0.36 BB:K ratio in 2018 to 0.47 in 2019 (best in IL) under Frank Menechino. I’m not sure if that means anything given the roster turnover in the minors, but I get the impression that he’s a plate discipline guy, and isn’t that the biggest knock on Mazara? The dude slugged .500 against righties last year, Castellanos and Ozuna didn’t even hit that mark.
Yeah, Mazara doesn’t walk enough and he hits way too many ground balls. Improve his plate discipline and change his launch angle and see what happens. I can’t find a complete hitting profile but, if I remember correctly he ranks high in average exit velocity. Two of the ten longest homers hit last season where hit by Maraza including the 505ft blast he hit of Lopez. Not the move I would have made but its not a wholly stupid one. I’d rank it better than signing Calhoun for 2 years.
So between two lefty outfielders who can hit homers, you prefer the one that has never been above league average as a hitter?
Menechino’ll fix him.
Yep, not picking Thomas was odd. I’m sure they just didn’t think the high-school talent would progress so fast. I would have thought Sheets would have been enough to land Maraza but I guess it took a bit more.
So if Hahn’s saying they’re acquiring players that fit the competitive window, and he’s also saying that the window doesn’t start in 2020, does that mean the window runs from 2021-2022 since Mazara’s contract ends after 2022?
There is no window. It’s just a crayon drawing taped to a wall.
Mazara’s contract ends after 2021.
So the Yankees got Cole for Christmas and Walker is now a Texas Ranger.
Cole- a very expensive stocking stuffer.