White Sox Acquire Alex Colome from Mariners For Omar Narvaez

Image credit: Alex Colome (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

The White Sox hope their rebuild will start to turn upward in 2019. To help maximize the chances that might happen, they acquired some much-needed bullpen help.

The White Sox acquired Alex Colome from the Mariners for catcher Omar Narvaez on Friday afternoon.

Colome, an All-Star closer with the Rays who served as Edwin Diaz’s setup man in Seattle, gives the White Sox an end-of-game option after they traded Joakim Soria, Xavier Cedeno and Luis Avilan last summer. Narvaez becomes the Mariners’ starting catcher after they traded Mike Zunino earlier this month.

Interestingly, both were Rays prospects at one point. Colome ranked as high as the Rays’ No. 2 prospect in 2015. Narvaez began his career with the Rays before being picked by the White Sox in the 2013 Rule 5 draft.

 

WHITE SOX ACQUIRE:

Alex Colome, RHP
Age: 29

Colome, who turns 30 on Dec. 31, is under team control for 2019 and 2020 and comes to the White Sox with a 2.78 ERA and 96 saves over the last three years. His mid-90s fastball and low-90s cutter give him two power weapons, with his cutter getting most of his swings and misses, and he mixes in an occasional changeup as well. Colome has been one of the better relievers in baseball the last few years. If the White Sox don’t start a turn upward to contention, they could still trade him during the season and expect a reasonable return.

MARINERS ACQUIRE:

Omar Narvaez, C
Age: 26

Narvaez has quietly been one of the better-hitting catchers the last few years, putting up a career .274 batting average and .366 on-base percentage and showing increasing power each year. Overall, his .809 OPS last season ranked fifth among all big league catchers with at least 300 plate appearances. Narvaez is strictly an offensive catcher. He ranked last out of 117 catchers in pitch framing last year, according to Baseball Prospectus, and he had the third-most errors (seven), fourth-most passed balls (12) and second-most stolen bases allowed (66) of any AL catcher. He is under team control through 2022, giving the Mariners four seasons before he hits free agency.