If White Sox go outside for 2B help, Frazier measures up
Adam Frazier.
Never heard of him? The White Sox know who he is.
Playing in relative anonymity with the Pirates the last six years, Frazier is having a standout season for another terrible Pittsburgh team, hitting .324/.385/.463 while ranking first in the major leagues with 22 doubles heading into Saturday's play.
Oh yeah, he also plays second base.
That's Nick Madrigal's position, at least it was until he tore his right hamstring Wednesday night.
The Sox are waiting to see if Madrigal might be able to rest the hamstring and return later this year or if he's going to need season-ending surgery.
If it's the dreaded "See you in 2022," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn likely puts a call into Pirates counterpart Ben Cherington to gauge what he wants for Frazier.
"We fully expect Nick to remain part of this going forward regardless of how much time he misses this season," Hahn said. "If for whatever reason we decide to go outside the organization and make an addition at that position at some point, and it's somebody who is controllable going forward, then we will cross that bridge of having too much depth come the offseason or early next year.
"Frankly, as we sit here today, after the last 10 weeks, having too much depth doesn't seem like a problem I need to add to my list of reasons to potentially lose sleep over."
Controllable means Hahn is not looking for trade help from a player that is going to be a free agent at season's end.
Frazier fits there as well. The 29-year-old infielder has a $4.3 million contract this year and is arbitration eligible in 2022.
When left fielder Eloy Jimenez and center fielder Luis Robert were lost with major injuries earlier in the season, the Sox didn't go outside for replacements thanks to some solid play from Andrew Vaughn, Billy Hamilton, Jake Lamb and Leury Garcia.
We'll see how Danny Mendick and Garcia fare as they try filling the sizable hole left by Madrigal.
Manager Tony La Russa is of the belief the White Sox will be just find replacing Madrigal in-house.
"The track record I have with (VP) Kenny (Williams) and Rick was even this winter as they signed free agents and traded for (Lance) Lynn and so forth, they run it where they take their information from scouts and their own sources and they reach down in the organization to the guys in uniform," La Russa said. "I'm sure that the coaches and I will be active with an opinion, but they've already proven they know what they're doing putting a roster together. I know they're unfortunately going to have to carry the burden of seeing what's smart and what's not.
"When you've got Garcia and you've got Mendick, we have two players at that position. It's not like we're desperate and we have to do something crazy."
It was only one game, but Mendick was the Sox's best player on the field in Friday night's 5-4 win over the Tigers.
He was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI, he scored the deciding run in the 10th on a nice slide at the plate and made a great defensive play in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
The White Sox might get some good news on Madrigal's injury, or they might trade for a more proven player like Frazier. At the moment, none of that matters to Mendick.
"I have an opportunity right now to play and help this team," he said. "I'm excited to do that and I'll leave everything on the line. I'm not going to think about what happens after that, just continue to play in the present and enjoy it."