Rangers might trade lefthanded hitter/outfielder

[wsox05]

To me there is no way that Mazara makes sense for the White Sox. They have the money to go get anyone they want. Mazara is a below average player that has shown no signs of getting better. The White Sox are looking to win now, if this were another rebuilding year, then I'd understand. But bringing in a below average player and giving him a starting spot doesn't make sense to me. 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

53 minutes ago, wsox05 said:

The White Sox need to just avoid the Rangers in discussions. They aren't going to trade Gallo as he is their star heading into the new ballpark. He's the only player on that roster that is worth going after. Therefore, just stay away from them. Mazara isn't a good baseball player. He's a LH version of Avi Garcia who they just got away from. They can do better than Mazara. Yuck. 

Calhoun would be a great get from the Rangers.  They have multiple players we could use.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

34 minutes ago, wsox05 said:

To me there is no way that Mazara makes sense for the White Sox. They have the money to go get anyone they want. Mazara is a below average player that has shown no signs of getting better. The White Sox are looking to win now, if this were another rebuilding year, then I'd understand. But bringing in a below average player and giving him a starting spot doesn't make sense to me. 

Yes, they do have money to get whoever they want.... HOWEVER, all the OF in free agency are trash/not good pickups.. So I guess your statement is correct about having all the money, but sadly there is no OF to spend it on wisely.

[ChiSox59]

38 minutes ago, wsox05 said:

To me there is no way that Mazara makes sense for the White Sox. They have the money to go get anyone they want. Mazara is a below average player that has shown no signs of getting better. The White Sox are looking to win now, if this were another rebuilding year, then I'd understand. But bringing in a below average player and giving him a starting spot doesn't make sense to me. 

Problem is, the FA market doesn't really provide any RF options that are good fits either.  

[Balta1701]

Just now, cjgalloway said:

Yes, they do have money to get whoever they want.... HOWEVER, all the OF in free agency are trash/not good pickups.. So I guess your statement is correct about having all the money, but sadly there is no OF to spend it on wisely.

I would very much say that the White Sox do not have the money to get whoever they want. Counting SP, RF, DH, Bullpen, and maybe catcher - they have 4+ positions where they  need major upgrades to really be competitive. If you signed the best player on the market at all those positions you're easily over a $170 million payroll, and it seems unlikely that they'd want to go that high. They've developed some good players from their trades and their #1 picks, but they haven't found any big league regulars any other way, leaving them too many holes to fill to go for many premium guys. If acquiring someone like Mazara frees up money to spend $30 million on a starter, and it doesn't cost much in the way of trade assets, then it's a pretty plausible move.

However, I still of course am skeptical that the White Sox will actually spend $30 million on a starter, even though I think it's a good way to spend their money.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

2 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I would very much say that the White Sox do not have the money to get whoever they want. Counting SP, RF, DH, Bullpen, and maybe catcher - they have 4+ positions where they  need major upgrades to really be competitive. If you signed the best player on the market at all those positions you're easily over a $170 million payroll, and it seems unlikely that they'd want to go that high. They've developed some good players from their trades and their #1 picks, but they haven't found any big league regulars any other way, leaving them too many holes to fill to go for many premium guys. If acquiring someone like Mazara frees up money to spend $30 million on a starter, and it doesn't cost much in the way of trade assets, then it's a pretty plausible move.

However, I still of course am skeptical that the White Sox will actually spend $30 million on a starter, even though I think it's a good way to spend their money.

I meant it as, they can choose one player if they wanted.. Not one player for every position.

[maxjusttyped]

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

Problem is, the FA market doesn't really provide any RF options that are good fits either.  

Mazara has been a full-time player for 4 seasons and is yet to be a league average hitter or surpass 1 WAR in any of them. The point you made is true, but it doesn't change the fact he wouldn't be a solution to anything for the White Sox.

[wsox05]

Exactly Max. 

3 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

Problem is, the FA market doesn't really provide any RF options that are good fits either.  

So getting a shitty OF from the Rangers is a good idea? No way. 

 

4 hours ago, cjgalloway said:

Calhoun would be a great get from the Rangers.  They have multiple players we could use.

Why would the Rangers trade a 25 year old OF? They’re still trying to win and sign players. Who else do they have that they’d actually trade that would make sense for the Sox. 
 

They’re opening their new park and don’t want to tear it all down. 

[ChiSox59]

2 hours ago, maxjusttyped said:

Mazara has been a full-time player for 4 seasons and is yet to be a league average hitter or surpass 1 WAR in any of them. The point you made is true, but it doesn't change the fact he wouldn't be a solution to anything for the White Sox.

You’d prefer to run Palka and Engel out there everyday, eh?

[zisk]

Avi Garcia won't cost a thing but a few dollars. The thing I see on this board most are clowns who say average players are terrible. Avi is a league average right fielder.

He also won't cost you prospects or Major league talent. Give him 1 year with an option and then focus on pitching. Cole Hamels and Zach Wheeler would make us an

above average team to start next year.

[oldsox]

13 minutes ago, zisk said:

Avi Garcia won't cost a thing but a few dollars. The thing I see on this board most are clowns who say average players are terrible. Avi is a league average right fielder.

He also won't cost you prospects or Major league talent. Give him 1 year with an option and then focus on pitching. Cole Hamels and Zach Wheeler would make us an

above average team to start next year.

I saw a lot of Tampa games on TV last season, and Avi played a pretty solid RF.

[Eminor3rd]

Nomar Mazara is the Rangers version of Avisail Garcia.

[ChiSox59]

31 minutes ago, zisk said:

Avi Garcia won't cost a thing but a few dollars. The thing I see on this board most are clowns who say average players are terrible. Avi is a league average right fielder.

He also won't cost you prospects or Major league talent. Give him 1 year with an option and then focus on pitching. Cole Hamels and Zach Wheeler would make us an

above average team to start next year.

There are other options. The Sox nontendered the guy less than a year ago. They aren’t going to bring him back.    

[maxjusttyped]

7 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

You’d prefer to run Palka and Engel out there everyday, eh?

I didn't realize there were only 3 options in all of baseball for the RF spot next season. You've got me there.

[wsox05]

9 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

You’d prefer to run Palka and Engel out there everyday, eh?

Where did I say that? Did you actually read what I wrote? 
 

I said Mazara sucks and the Sox can do better. 
 

So I’ll ask you, I guess you’re fine with below average players both offensively and defensively eh?

[wsox05]

7 hours ago, zisk said:

Avi Garcia won't cost a thing but a few dollars. The thing I see on this board most are clowns who say average players are terrible. Avi is a league average right fielder.

He also won't cost you prospects or Major league talent. Give him 1 year with an option and then focus on pitching. Cole Hamels and Zach Wheeler would make us an

above average team to start next year.

Sure because every team says “man we just need some average players”. 
 

If our offseason is Avi, Wheeler and Hamels as the main pieces, Hahn should be fired. 

[poppysox]

3 hours ago, wsox05 said:

Sure because every team says “man we just need some average players”. 
 

If our offseason is Avi, Wheeler and Hamels as the main pieces, Hahn should be fired. 

If our offseason is Avi, Wheeler, Cole and Grandal he should get a statue on the concourse.

[ptatc]

16 hours ago, cjgalloway said:

Yes, they do have money to get whoever they want.... HOWEVER, all the OF in free agency are trash/not good pickups.. So I guess your statement is correct about having all the money, but sadly there is no OF to spend it on wisely.

There is always the option of stop gap this year and get a good one next year. They don't have to build the entire team this year.

[bmags]

4 minutes ago, ptatc said:

There is always the option of stop gap this year and get a good one next year. They don't have to build the entire team this year.

Yes, I definitely think the smart money is on pitching this offseason, position players next.

[ChiSox59]

7 hours ago, maxjusttyped said:

I didn't realize there were only 3 options in all of baseball for the RF spot next season. You've got me there.

I literally said multiple times in this thread that Mazara wouldn’t be in my top 5 RF choices. But he’s also not the worst option out there. I’d much rather roll the dice on Mazara for 1 year and $4.5M than sign Puig to a long term deal, as an example. 
 

Unfortunately the FA market doesn’t provide an great fits for RF. The Sox are going to have to get creative. If the go trade route, there are plenty of options I’d prefer before Mazara, but he’s definitely an upgrade on what we have, and he shouldn’t cost much. Depending how the rest of the team shakes out, there are worse scenarios. 

[SoxBlanco]

38 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

I literally said multiple times in this thread that Mazara wouldn’t be in my top 5 RF choices. But he’s also not the worst option out there. I’d much rather roll the dice on Mazara for 1 year and $4.5M than sign Puig to a long term deal, as an example. 
 

Unfortunately the FA market doesn’t provide an great fits for RF. The Sox are going to have to get creative. If the go trade route, there are plenty of options I’d prefer before Mazara, but he’s definitely an upgrade on what we have, and he shouldn’t cost much. Depending how the rest of the team shakes out, there are worse scenarios. 

You should hop on board the Castellanos train.  The guy can hit and is steadily improving.  He even improved his defense from 2018 to 2019, which is important to me when a guy has not been an outfielder for his whole career.  He's never going to have great defense, but he can play RF for a year and then move to DH.  I know you don't think he hits well enough to be a DH, but I see him as a guy who puts up a wRC+ in the 120's/130's, which is good enough for me.

[ChiSox59]

2 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

You should hop on board the Castellanos train.  The guy can hit and is steadily improving.  He even improved his defense from 2018 to 2019, which is important to me when a guy has not been an outfielder for his whole career.  He's never going to have great defense, but he can play RF for a year and then move to DH.  I know you don't think he hits well enough to be a DH, but I see him as a guy who puts up a wRC+ in the 120's/130's, which is good enough for me.

His career wRC+ is 112 though. And the Sox would have the worst OF defense in the league if he plays RF regularly. 
 

If Castellanos comes at 3/$45 or less, is signed along with Grandal, Wheeler/Ryu, and another OF that can play RF regularly putting him at DH, I could get behind it. But overpaying Castellanos with the expectation of him being our RF or DH for several seasons isn’t going to end well. 

[SoxBlanco]

3 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

His career wRC+ is 112 though. And the Sox would have the worst OF defense in the league if he plays RF regularly. 
 

If Castellanos comes at 3/$45 or less, is signed along with Grandal, Wheeler/Ryu, and another OF that can play RF regularly putting him at DH, I could get behind it. But overpaying Castellanos with the expectation of him being our RF or DH for several seasons isn’t going to end well. 

That career wRC+ factors in 2014 and 2015 when he had a wRC+ in the 90's. I think it's more important to look at his last few years. He's only 27 years old right now (28 when next season starts).

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

21 hours ago, wsox05 said:

To me there is no way that Mazara makes sense for the White Sox. They have the money to go get anyone they want. Mazara is a below average player that has shown no signs of getting better. The White Sox are looking to win now, if this were another rebuilding year, then I'd understand. But bringing in a below average player and giving him a starting spot doesn't make sense to me. 

But this is another rebuilding year . Just because the Sox are looking much better with the emergence of Giolito , Anderson, Moncada, Bummer and Eloy doesn't mean the Sox are looking to win now. Granted it's much more hopeful than it was last year but Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Robert , Madrigal and Collins still have a lot to prove. They don't have the money to go get anyone they want. How long is that money going to last if you get lucky enough to sign a top starting pitcher plus Grandal ?

According to most here you also have to fill DH ,a back end starter, a bullpen piece AND RF. Saying they have the money to sign anyone they want in RF if like saying they have the money to fill all their holes that way. They simply do not. The options at the other positions of need, the candidates are pretty good, unlike RF where the candidates are all not good fits.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

14 hours ago, Eminor3rd said:

Nomar Mazara is the Rangers version of Avisail Garcia.

He won't be 25 til April and already has 4 solid seasons behind him. Nothing spectacular but 20 HR's a year and a steady but rising OPS in each year.

When I look at Christian Yelich who also came into the league as a 21 yr old for the 1st 3 years he had very little power but hit for average and got on base so his OPS+ was decent but as a corner OF he was nothing special and his OPS for those 3 years was only slightly higher than Mazara 1st 4 years.

If he is like Avi then maybe he has one great year coming.

If  he is like Yelich without the good fielding and OBP perhaps once he "gets it" he ends up being somewhere in between Avi and Yelich . It's not the worst thing to take a chance on a guy who can be very close to figuring it out. Ignoring his vast upside is a mistake in any discussions of Mazara.

It took Avi over 2000 AB's to have that 1 great season. It took Yelich 1400 AB's to show more than a little power and over 2700 AB's to become the great player he is right now. Mazara has around 2200 AB's so if he is going to break out it's coming soon.

Edited November 8, 2019 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside