White Sox non-tender Nomar Mazara, Carlos Rodón

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 05: Chicago White Sox right fielder Nomar Mazara (30) kneels in the outfield during the MLB game between the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers on August 05, 2020 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire)

Non-tender day might generate some surprises around Major League Baseball, but none came from the White Sox.

The White Sox declined to offer contracts to Nomar Mazara and Carlos Rodón for the upcoming season, as most everybody expected. Mazara was projected to earn $5.9 million for 2021 after hitting .228/.295/.294 in 2020, and Rodón $4.5 million after throwing just 7⅔ largely ineffective innings. Both entered their third and final year of arbitration eligibility, but both will enter free agency a year earlier than expected.

Credit Rick Hahn with the most euphemistic way to spin this.

“A great deal of consideration and analysis goes into our decisions to forego the arbitration process and instead engage with players and their representatives as free agents,” said Rick Hahn, White Sox senior vice president/general manager. “We plan to stay in contact with both Nomar and Carlos and evaluate their possible fit with our club as we move forward through the offseason.”

I would like him to use this angle for every transaction. Imagine him using this for Carson Fulmer’s DFA:

“A great deal of consideration and analysis goes into our decision to forego the standard employment arrangement and instead engage with the player as a member of another organization. We intend to make contact off Carson in the not-too-distant future.”

The White Sox did tender contracts to the other arbitration-eligible players, and they reached a 2021 contract with Jace Fry, who will make $862,500 in 2021. MLB Trade Rumors had projected a $1 million salary through a full-season arb model, versus $800,000 for a prorated or abbreviated version.

A reminder of the other projections:

  • Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M
  • Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M
  • Evan Marshall: $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M
  • Adam Engel: $1M | $1.4M | $1M

We’ll survey the entire list of non-tenders in a post and podcast for Thursday morning.

(Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire)

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asinwreck

Thirteen months ago, I suggested the Sox pick up David Dahl from the Rockies, as his OBP skills were worth the risk of his remarkable fragility. If you weren’t keeping track of the Rockies’ 2020, I can tell you that my suggestion made Rick Hahn’s acquisition of Nomar Mazara look positively brilliant by comparison.

Anyway, the Rockies cut Dahl today, so he’s available if the Sox want to buy low.

asinwreck

Also, in addition to Kyle Schwarber, José Martínez, and Albert Almora, the Cubs non-tendered Ryan Tepera. Who is Ryan Tepera? He’s a guy who picked up up a vote for MVP this year.

Soxfan2

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player-comparison?playerIds=621311,592626&seasons=2019,2019&pitchSpeedGT=49&pitchSpeedLT=106&launchSpeedGT=29&launchSpeedLT=126&ddlChartType=contour&ddlPitcherThrows=&ddlBatterStands=&ddlPitchTypes=&ddlCount=&ddlEvent=&ddlYear=2019

A comparison of Dahl’s and Pederson’s 2019 season is pretty interesting. Dahl and Pederson wouldn’t be terrible plan B and C options after springer.

Also, Dahl never graded out well in DRS or UZR on defense but in 2019 his speed was 76th percentile and outs above average was 74th percentile. He might have a lot more to give defensively if he’s put in RF instead of CF.

HallofFrank

Dahl is a 27 year old OF who has yet to play a full season. He has a career 87 wRC+, .722 OPS away from Coors and is generally poor defensively. He was worth -1.1 WAR 24 games last year.

That’s a terrible plan for RF—even if it’s plan B, C or even F. This would have been a nice flier for the 2018 Sox, but let’s get past the reclamation project stage.

jorgefabregas

I don’t want Dahl, but using “away from Coors” is bunk. Hitting in Coors regularly messes up hitters away from Coors. The full home/away wRC+ is already park and league adjusted. Just use that.

And the full wRC+ probably undervalues Rockies hitters. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/45495/moonshot-revising-history-with-drc/

HallofFrank

That’s fair. And I wouldn’t say severe a home/road split at Coors (or anywhere) is enough to dissuade me from a player alone.

But I also wouldn’t call it “bunk.” Coors has a positive effect on a player’s offensive production. The Arenado article, for instance, suggests it may hurt road stats but, it seems to me, not enough to offset the boost from Coors (as the Holliday example, which he says is a good one, shows).

So, it may not be fair to characterize his road stats as what you get on another team, but neither would his full stats do that. It’s probably somewhere in between.

texag10

Everyone always uses “away from Coors” as a gotcha stat for Rockies hitters, ignoring the fact that they play in the NL West where “away from Coors” often entails playing San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Arizona (post humidor) which are not hitter friendly parks. Take both numbers with grains of salt and you’ll be fine.

As Cirensica

DJ LaMehaieu production went down after he left Color….oh wait

Eagle Bones

I’d be fine with Dahl as a backup (or backup to the backup) plan as he’s basically been a 2 win player when healthy until last year and has the tools to be more than that. He would need to come with a SERIOUS backup plan of his own though as he can’t be counted on for anything resembling a full season’s worth of games.

peanutsNcrackerjack

ok, well there’s $10 million that can hopefully be better spent.

evenyoudorn

I lol’d at the Fulmer thing. Thank you.

Oddvark

I wouldn’t be surprised if the White Sox actually do stay in touch with Mazara. If they don’t sign Springer, even with the new non-tendered players, there really aren’t any great options in free agency to fill RF. There are some pretty decent DH/LF (round peg, square hole) types (Ozuna, Brantley, Schwarber), a platoon option coming off a down year (Pederson), and a bunch of flawed OF who could be put in RF with fingers crossed (Puig, Rosario, Dahl, JBJ). If those are the choices, Mazara could be in the running if the price is right.

Greg Nix

The price for Mazara could be six magic beans and it would still be a bad deal.

Oddvark

I agree with your statement, but it’s probably because we disagree not only on the value of Mazara but on the value of magic beans.

Eagle Bones

There are soooooooooo many names that should be between Springer and Mazara on their list (you’ve mentioned a lot of them). If they make it to Mazara on that list, they’ve failed BADLY.

itaita

Rodon was never going to finish his career with the Sox. What stinks though is the reason was injuries derailing his career leading to a non-tender instead of Boras asking the Sox for 300 million dollars or something in free agency.

However it is somewhat funny that after all the shitposting Cubs fans did about Schwarber “falling” to the Cubs and the Sox taking Rodon over him is both players getting let go the same day in the end.

texag10

Imagine what could have been if we had taken Nola in 2014 and the other Vanderbilt pitcher in 2015…

mikeschach

and Mike Trout instead of Jared MItchell in 09.

As Cirensica

This is a sad game to play.

mikeschach

that is what I tried to imply. clearly.

and we definitely need a new adjective for hindsight – since 20/20 doesn’t sound so good anymore

texag10

Nola was at least being heavily discussed as an option for the Sox at 3 whereas Mike Trout was just wishcasting…

Eagle Bones

I remember thinking Nola sounded way too low ceiling to take at that pick. Oops!