Chicago White Sox: Impact of Nomar Mazara hitting IL
The Chicago White Sox have placed Nomar Maza1ra and that could impact a lot of players.
The Chicago White Sox were hoping that adding Nomar Mazara in the offseason would help them be really deep as far as their starting lineup. He isn’t a star player or anything like that but he should be an upgrade offensively over most of the players to play that position in recent years. He still might be a good player for them this year but they are going to have to start the season without him because he is now on the injured list.
We don’t know why as they didn’t give any details but it does affect the team in many ways. For starters, whoever replaces him in the starting lineup probably isn’t going to be as productive offensively. It also could impact multiple players in terms of their service time and playing time on the actual field.
For starters, this move might cause the White Sox to not wait a week to bring in Nick Madrigal. The reason they might have done that is so they can get an extra year of service time. He is the best second base option they have and with a 60 game season, every day counts so much more. Leury Garcia was expected to be the starting second baseman until Madrigal arrived but now he might be out there in right to replace Mazara.
This could also get Danny Mendick some time in the field at second if they wanted to go with keeping Madrigal down for a week and still having Garcia in right. The only problem is that if Rick Renteria wants to stick to his word about easing in Yoan Moncada, Mendick might be needed at 3rd. Moncada had COVID-19 but he is back and ready to go. He looked good in his home exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs but they might want to give him some off-days early.
Nicky Delmonico and Adam Engel might be guys who are also options to play in right field in place of Mazara. They both have had offensive bursts but can be relied on for good defense. They would be better suited for late-game replacements but for now, they need to be ready to go.
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No matter how you look at it, the White Sox need to hope that Mazara can get back as soon as possible. When that happens, the right players will be playing in the right spots. That is the big key to sustaining success over a season. By the time Mazara comes back, this team should really be able to use all of its players in the best way for their skill sets.