Texas Rangers Rumors: White Sox Aggressively Pursuing Nomar Mazara

Alongside interest from the Cardinals and D’Backs, the Chicago White Sox are reportedly making a push to trade for Texas Rangers OF Nomar Mazara.

In a day that we say reports saying the Texas Rangers had held discussions with the Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals revolving around Nomar Mazara, Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweeted out that the Chicago White Sox are “working hard” to acquire Nomar Mazara as well.

Mazara, was undoubtedly going to be a name floated in Rangers trade rumors all offseason and it seems his market is heating up quickly. The 24-year old outfielder seems to be the odd-man out as Texas looks to trim down its backlog of Major League-level left-handed hitting outfielders. Competing against Joey Gallo, Willie Calhoun and Shin-Soo Choo for playing time, it seems Mazara’s time in Arlington could be coming to a rapid close.

In his four seasons with Texas, Mazara has posted a combined 1.7 fWAR. He has a career average of .261 with 79 home runs and a career .754 OPS. While not below average offensively in his Rangers career, Mazara has yet to live up to the lofty expectations set forth when he signed for record $5 million as an international free agent in 2011.

Texas still values Mazara highly knowing he has loads of talent evidenced by their reported asking price. Craig Mish who hosts FNTSY Sports Radio in Florida noted that Texas was asking for Major League talent when the Marlins called about Mazara earlier in the offseason process.

The White Sox have a quality minor league system with some players that could interest Texas. It’s hard to nail down Mazara’s value because he has the talent but also has substantial sample size of subpar performance. Jamey Newberg of The Athletic noted when asked about potential returns that Texas might look to get a player not on the White Sox 40-man roster.

With the Rangers 40-man currently at 39 but with two deals pending, Texas needs to clear players off the roster. If they deal Mazara, look for a younger prospect with minimal professional playing time in order to help clear an extra spot on the 40-man roster.