White Sox Announce non-tenders Mazara and Rodon Gone
This is going to be a wacky several hours as we await the non-tender deadline. Two names that were expected to get non-tendered , according to reports, have been. Nomar Mazara and Carlos Rodon will become free agents as the Chicago White Sox have elected to non-tender them.
The White Sox acquired Mazara from the Texas Rangers last winter for Steele Walker. The idea was adding a potent bat to round out what was looking like a formidable offense. While the White Sox offense was explosive, it wasn’t because of Mazara. In 42 games he hit 1 HR and posted a .589 OPS. While I have stressed the importance of ignoring 2020 results, this wasn’t what the Sox believed they were getting when they pulled the trigger on this trade.
Non-tendering Carlos Rodon has to hurt this front office. This was GM Rick Hahn’s first big draft pick, picking Rodon third overall in the 2014 draft.
While MLB scouting has become better, and they strike out less often than they have in the past, guys like Rodon (and Mark Appel both of recent memory) should serve as warnings as to why teams should be very careful when selecting pitchers that high in the draft. For every Clayton Kershaw (drafted seventh overall) there are 10-15 Carlos Rodon’s.
Yes, it isn’t entirely fair to throw shade at Rodon, his career has seen its fair share of injury. He has never pitched in more than 28 games, and his ERA progressively got worse as the years went on. His WHIP has never been comfortably respectable and he went from a guy that would strike out a batter an inning to someone that had a total of 6 Ks in 4 games.
