Earlier today, the White Sox began clearing the deck of pieces they do not expect to be part of the team’s future success, dealing catcher Omar Narváez to the Mariners and not tendering 2019 contracts to Avisail García and Matt Davidson. In return for Narváez, the White Sox received relief pitcher Álex Colomé.
Narváez, who broke out offensively last year and led the White Sox in fWAR, would, at first glance, seem to be someone to contribute to the future success of the White Sox. His poor defense, however, would seem to say otherwise. He was near the league’s worst in both passed balls and pitch framing, according to publicly available metrics, and the White Sox obviously thought he had little chance of improving. Colomé should help improve a bullpen that was in dire need of talent at the end of 2018.
As for García and Davidson, the decision to cut ties with the duo probably had as much to do with their expected arbitration numbers than anything else. García’s expected salary was around $8 million, which is chump change if he were to duplicate his 2017 season, but, at this point in his career, that does looks more and more to be an outlier. With Eloy Jimenez expected to join the White Sox in mid-April, García became expendable. Davidson, despite providing some unexpected flexibility last year as a mop-up reliever, never truly lived up to his potential. He can still hit for power, but not much else, and the White Sox obviously thought they had seen everything there was to see from him.
García’s, Davidson’s, and Narváez’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →
Last week, we looked at the active leaders in games I’ve attended through 2019 on the offensive side of the ball. With the second spring training winding down and opening day finally a week away, let’s take a look at the defensive side of the ball and the active pitching leaders.