White Sox Non-Tender Nomar Mazara While Searching for Right-Field Fix

Sox non-tender Nomar Mazara while on hunt for right fielder originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The White Sox pulled the plug on the Nomar Mazara Experiment after just one season.

The team non-tendered its right fielder Wednesday, affirming what many already expected: that there will be a different starter at that position in a 2021 season with championship expectations on the South Side.

Mazara was acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers last December, the one-time top prospect billed as having untapped potential that could make him more than the consistent 20-homer hitter he’d been during his four seasons in Texas. Just 24 when the White Sox got him, that didn’t seem like an outlandish idea.

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But Mazara was sidelined with an illness at the end of “Summer Camp” in July, missing the team’s first nine games of the shortened 2020 season. When he did return to the lineup, he spent the year in a miserable slump. He couldn’t even display the power stroke he did in Texas, hitting just one home run in 42 games, finishing the season with a .228/.295/.294 slash line.

Mazara’s youth could certainly get him opportunity elsewhere, especially with a rebuilding team who could hope to turn him into a middle-of-the-lineup presence. But the White Sox are entering win-now mode, and they’re on the hunt for dependability.

Mazara’s lack of production in 2020 has sent Rick Hahn’s front office after a solution in right field for the second straight offseason, the lone position on the diamond where the team doesn’t have a long-term answer. George Springer, arguably the top position player on the free-agent market, tops plenty of fan wish lists, and he seems to be a perfect fit for the White Sox as they look to compete for championships not only in 2021 but over the better part of the next decade.

Of course, the White Sox won't completely close the book on the possibility of Mazara suiting up for them in 2021, with Hahn saying Wednesday: "We plan to stay in contact with both Nomar and Carlos (Rodón, who was also non-tendered Wednesday) and evaluate their possible fit with our club as we move forward through the offseason."

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