In a surprising twist to the Mariners' ongoing fire sale, the White Sox have gotten in on the action.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 30, 2018
In acquiring Alex Colome, the Sox get a proven closer who can slot into the back end of a bullpen that has been lacking one since Joakim Soria was shipped out at midseason. Colome was an All Star with Tampa Bay in 2016 then led the majors in saves in 2017, despite worse peripherals. He struggled for the first two months of 2018, but rebounded after Seattle traded for him in late May, posting a 2.53 ERA in 46 1/3 innings with the Mariners, while striking out 49 and walking just 13.
Colome has two years of arbitration remaining and MLB Trade Rumors projects him to make $7.3 million in 2019. Here's what Fangraphs' Jeff Sullivan had to say about him after that deal in May:
Just generally speaking, Colome is good without being great. He was an All-Star in 2016, but he doesn’t strike batters out like that anymore... Colome leans heavily on a cutter that can get too predictable, but, shortcomings aside, he’ll help patch up what’s been a troublesome area.
The same can likely be said about his role with the Sox.
Meanwhile, the Sox deal away the club's best hitter in 2018 (still a weird/sad sentence to write). However, despite a surprisingly strong 120 OPS+ and some newfound power, Omar Narvaez remained one of the worst defensive catchers in the league, meaning he was unlikely to be a long-term solution at the position.
With Narvaez headed to the Pacific Northwest and Kevan Smith taking his plus contact and minus throwing to Anaheim, the Sox will have to reallocate about 75% of their innings behind the plate in 2019. Presumably Welington Castillo won't get suspended again, but with Seby Zavala the next man up on the depth chart, it's likely that another move is forthcoming before Spring Training.
UPDATE, 3:44 PM: It's been a busy day for Rick Hahn.
