Chicago White Sox

Why does this matter when he’s been bad four straight years?

Awesome he’s young!!! Let’s ignore the fact he’s never been good and only has two years of control left because of his awesome prospect pedigree four years ago!! I definitely feel much better about our chances to compete next year!

100% agree. I would have loved this type of move a year ago when we had playing time to give. Now is not the time to try out projects.

The worst part is passing on a guy like Castellanos over defensive concerns only to trade for an OF with poor defense and a questionable bat.

I never thought it would happen?

That’s not getting you Snell. More like Cease, Vaughn, & Walker (oops he ain’t here no more).

Why is this a Mazara vs Walker story? We could have traded Steele for other things. There is nothing mutually exclusive about these two players.

You suck ?

Come on dude, starting the season late was always going to come at a cost. I’m not a huge fan by any means, but throw his 2019 stats out the window.

Are you serious? Wheeler is coming off two really good seasons and has elite stuff. Keuchel is a guy with fringe stuff who could fall off a cliff at any point. I don’t get your argument whatsoever.

I don’t get this comparison whatsoever.

Great we have a better lineup! Is it good enough to overcome a questionable pitching staff? If not, what the fuck are you trying to accomplish? I want a team that can actually challenge for a playoff spot next year, not one that’s simply better the previous 72 win iteration.

There is no weird hatred of Mazara, he’s simply a bad player with some offensive upside, nothing more nothing less.

Plenty of high upside HS players were available at 45.

Unfortunately going overslot on college hitters in the 2nd round is our thing.

In all seriousness, they didn’t even make attempts at Cole or Strasburg. It seems very unlikely they’ll make a run at Rendon. Grandal was a tremendous signing and Wheeler would have been a fantastic addition but two guys alone shouldn’t reflect the “money will be spent”. Now with RF filled, they are running out of things to spend their money this offseason. Dallas Keuchel being our big pitching addition will not inspire much confidence amongst the fanbase. Obviously they can save their money for next offseason, but there’s no guarantee that all the guys who are scheduled to be free agents will still be available by then and it’s not a great free agent class to begin with. It really seems like it’s Mookie, Springer, Joc or bust at this point and let’s just hope none of those guys are represented by Boras.

Walker could have been used for all sorts of things and the issue here isn’t the price we paid for Mazara but what it represents. 20 HRs from a corner OF is not good in the juiced ball era and RBIs are pretty much a meaningless stat. The reality is we just settled on a guy who was about 10% better than league average against RHP (despite a BABIP 35 points higher than his career average) to be the strong side of a RF platoon. This same player offers negative value in the field and on the bases. He’s also one of the worst hitters in all of baseball against LHP. As much as people think platoons work our perfectly, he will face some lefties and that will bring down his overall offensive numbers. He needs to take a significant leap forward next year or won’t be a very useful player for us.

You should be ecstatic about this move bmags. This is the front office saying they did not want to commit large sums of money to Ozuna or Castellanos and is buying some time until next offseason for a run at Betts, Springer, Pederson, etc. I am 100% ok with that logic, but wish they acquired a stop-gap with far more certainty than Mazara. After missing out on Wheeler and now going with a highly question but talented player in RF, we quickly seem to be punting on the 2020 season and creating a three year window. Maybe they surprise with far more impactful pitching additions than I’m currently expecting or possibly extend the window with extensions with Yoan & Giolito, but right now the plan seems very much disjointed and is putting a ton of pressure on us to land an impact RF next offseason.

What other offensive moves are you expecting? Maybe they add a DH, but then Collins basically has no role and the plan to rotate Grandal around goes out the window. I could see is possibly adding a depth piece like Gennett or Dietrich, but they would not be a bigger addition than Mazara. Short of signing Encarnacion, I think Nomar will be our second biggest offensive addition this offseason.

Oh good, glad we strengthened an American League competitor by making this move.

No doubt, but he’s got plenty of room for recession and can still be at Mazara’s level.

Where did he say this? If there were plans for a Rendon pursuit, I’d be far more ok with going cheap in RF. Skeptical they would something so bold that would also require moving Moncada and likely trading Madrigal.

So a below average player is acceptable because the players before him were historically bad?

And they better succeed in doing so because we only have four years of control left of Yoan & Giolito and if we get 2016 to 2019 Mazara that could cause our competitive window to shrink a year.

I’m not sure about that. Here’s our roster’s wRC+ against RHP last year: Moncada = 148 Anderson = 132 Jimenez = 120 Grandal = 114 Mazara = 110 Collins = 99 Abreu = 99 I would expect Collins & Abreu to both be better against RHP. Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if Mazara was the low man on the totem pole next year out of these seven.