The White Sox have made another notable acquisition this offseason as they have acquired outfielder Nomar Mazara from the Texas Rangers for minor league outfielder Steele Walker. Mazara is a left handed batter that plays right field and can play center field if needed. His left handed bat provides more balance the Sox lineup for 2020 and significant power.
Mazara was heralded as the next big star after his rookie season in 2016 as he finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year award voting, but since that season, he has failed to live up to expectations. Mazara has roughly (not exact amount, just rough) averaged a .260 average, 20 home runs, 75 RBIs, .320 OBP, .450 slugging percentage, .750 OPS, 0.5 WAR, and .980 fielding percentage in his four seasons in the majors, including having the worst season of his career thus far in 2019. He has certainly been underwhelming thus far in his career. His defense is suspect as he has a career defensive output of -15 DRS and a 0.0 UZR though he does have a good arm.
So why did the Sox make the trade? Let's analyze the situation.
Mazara is a left handed bat and that brings in more balance to the lineup, has power, and he hits right handed pitchers well (.288/.344/.500 with a 110 wRC+ in 2019). He's also still very young, which suggests that he could still reach his potential. Maybe a change of scenery will workout for him as, if he does breakout in 2020, then it will benefit the Sox. However, Guaranteed Rate Field could help benefit his power as he can absolutely blast a ball far (hit a 505 foot home run in 2019 against the Pale Hose ironically). Defensively, he is not very good, but the team is going to worry more about his bat more than anything. That being said, he is one of the slowest outfielders out on the field.
If this is going to be the only move the team makes to upgrade their outfield and lineup, then they really didn't do much, but there is plenty of offseason for them to work with. There were a few interesting quotes from general manager Rick Hahn that suggests there is more to this acquisition than people think. The first quote is: "Let's see how the rest of the roster comes together before fully assessing how we addressed right field." The second quote from James Fegan of the Athletic who paraphrased what Hahn said: "Hahn said they're hopeful on Mazara's upside and have a plan to unlock it but doesn't want this addition to be viewed in a vacuum, before it's seen how the entire offense will shake out. They think Mazara helps even if he just hits righties from bottom third of the order."
Those quotes suggest that they might not be done addressing the right field situation. This is not exactly a move that excites fans and the front office knows that, so they could theoretically make another move to finish addressing right field. One suggestion is to have a right handed batter to help platoon with Mazara. Two players who would fit perfectly in that situation are either Steven Souza or Domingo Santana. Another idea is that the team could add either Nicholas Castellanos or Marcell Ozuna to be the designated hitter and play some right field on other days. Heck, the front office might still pull off a trade that could fix their needs as well. It might be a low risk, high reward move, but it sure feels risky. It's not a terrible trade, but it isn't exactly an exciting one. It could benefit them if Mazara reaches his potential.
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