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White Sox: Three biggest missed opportunities

By Joshua Finkelstein

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 26: Zack Wheeler #45 of the New York Mets follows through with a pitch in the first inning of their game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on September 26, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 26: Zack Wheeler #45 of the New York Mets follows through with a pitch in the first inning of their game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on September 26, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 16: Nicholas Castellanos #6 of the Chicago Cubs hits a two run double in the eight inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field on September 16, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 16: Nicholas Castellanos #6 of the Chicago Cubs hits a two run double in the eight inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field on September 16, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

3. Nicholas Castellanos

Of the three possible additions, this was the one that would have cost the least to make happen as Castellanos only required a four-year, $64 million contract from the Cincinnati Reds.

However, this was probably the most questionable of their decisions to make as, instead of signing Castellanos, the team decided to trade for Nomar Mazara.

While it’s certainly possible that trade could work out, Mazara doesn’t exactly have a track record of success in the big leagues, He hasn’t even had a season where he had a 1.0 fWAR yet.

Castellanos, 27, would have been a major addition to the lineup in 2020 after hitting .289/.337/.525 with 27 home runs and 73 RBI to give himself a 121 wRC+ and 2.8 fWAR this past season.

His fWAR was lower due to the fact that his defense has not been good over the course of his career.

With that being said, he did show some improvement in 2019 with -9 DRS as compared to -19 in 2018 while also improving his UZR to -4.4 as compared to his abysmal -12.9 UZR in the year prior.

Even if the team determined that he wasn’t capable of playing right field every day, they could have signed him for their DH spot. However, they instead chose to sign Edwin Encarnacion.

Mazara and Encarnacion could certainly work out for the team in 2020, but I also believe that Castellanos would have been a big-time addition for the team.

The good news is that they might get another crack at Castellanos next offseason as his contract contains an opt-out after the 2020 season as detailed by Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Next. White Sox's Three Best Offseason Moves. dark

That allows the White Sox to evaluate Mazara and, if he doesn’t succeed, they can simply do a course correction after this season.

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