The Padres announced that outfielder Nomar Mazara has been designated for assignment. In the corresponding move, outfielder Jose Azocar was called up from Triple-A.
Mazara signed a minor league deal with San Diego during the offseason, reuniting the former top Rangers prospect with Padres president of baseball operations (and former Rangers front office member) A.J. Preller. The Padres selected Mazara’s contract in early June, and he has hit .264/.316/.352 with two home runs over 171 plate appearances.
Brought up to add some left-handed depth to San Diego’s bench, Mazara has actually performed better (.777 OPS) in 25 PA against left-handed pitching than over 146 PA against right-handed pitching (.649 OPS). The additions of Juan Soto and Josh Bell added a lot of extra balance to the Padres lineup and made Mazara a little redundant, especially considering that the Padres also have the left-handed hitting Trent Grisham and the switch-hitting Jurickson Profar in their first-choice outfield.
While Mazara’s numbers aren’t anything spectacular, they still represent an improvement over his last two seasons, when he hit .219/.285/.309 over 330 combined PA with the White Sox and Tigers in 2020-21. This could be enough for Mazara to perhaps get a look on the DFA wire from a team in need of outfield depth, or another executive (like Preller) could have memories of Mazara’s potential as a highly-touted minor leaguer.
why
Because he can’t really hit. But either can the rest of the guys
Some guy named Soto took his job.
Azocar is more useful defensively and also a righty
He’s been a weird roster fit since they got Soto and Myers came back. Defense + speed guy makes way more sense in that 5th OF spot.
True but is Azocar what they need? I would think they need a productive bench bat and not just a late game defensive replacement, and it’s not as if they have a lead in the late innings anyway.
damascusj, Exactly, Azocar can play ALL three outfield spots well, but Nomar Mazara is purely a corner outfielder. Still, I will Nomar well. I think another team will give him a chance.
Ken did say the Braves will DFA Ozuna so…..
Braves????
One former Tiger for another.
Mr. Replacement level
Nomar time on the Padres for him
Back to Texas can replace god awful Brad Miller at DH
Interesting…..When the Rangers signed Miller in the offseason I was on here saying he couldn’t play a defensive position and with the exception of spurt every now and then he couldn’t hit either. I seen him play for the Phillies in 2021.
But I was put down with posters telling me how good the guy was and was going to be.
I’ve gotta tell ya – that Rangers situation is messed up far more than anyone’s saying. All the agents are worried – they thought they had a soft touch to dump their overrated clients onto a desperate, sucker FO for nice fat commissions this coming offseason. Now they’re not so sure. A few players may be taking QO’s this offseason.
If you said that in the offseason, then those posters were right considering he had been better than league average offensively the previous three seasons. It just so happens your prediction came true and he’s been bad this season (and props to you for that– seriously), but that doesn’t make your evaluation on his performance prior to this season factually correct.
myaccount2;
Ask Phillies fans that watched him in 2021.
Not likely. The fired guy decided to give Brad Miller $4m for next season. Don’t throw away that jersey just yet.
Bummer…I wish him well.
Nomar becoming a nomad.
I wonder if he was just another juicer who now has to play by the rules. His numbers fell off a cliff rather quickly… especially for a guy so young.
This clears a 40 man spot too, I’m wondering if that’s in anticipation of Pomeranz returning soon from his rehab assignment or if they just give that roster spot to Castillo and DFA someone else when Pom is ready.
Castillo already on the 40, my guess is Mazara was out of options..
Mazara is STILL only 27. He really hasn’t even hit his prime yet. He might be worth a claim for a rebuilding club like Washington.
As a Padres fan, I wish Nomar Mazara the best. He played and hit well enough in El Paso (AAA) and San Diego for another team to take a chance on him.
No power. No speed. Nothing spectacular.
Nomar Mazara was just DFAed. Spectacular players with power and speed don’t get DFAed. Big surprise I know!
He has a roughly MLB average bat. That has value.
So I’m basically unfamiliar with Mazara, but his name seems to come up a lot, so I’m curious. Can anyone give me any insight as to what happened to this guy beyond what I can read on the stat sheet?
Product of a juiced ball?
Needs more iron in his diet?
Suddenly became consciously opposed to violence against baseballs?
Well if you look at his ops+, he was just below average hitter overall, at his best.
Alot of at bats in the right spot, produced a higher rbi total one year.
Otherwise it’s a low doubles, 20 hr, 65 rbi corner outfielder.
Sadly he’s not even that anymore.
Imo people get hung up on prospect pedigree. After a certain time, a player is what he is.
Also the outlier rbi year.
He is a guy that prospectors thought would be a superstar that just didn’t reach those heights for whatever reason. Just goes to show that even in the era of sabermetrics, prospecting is still just a guessing game.
At one point, Mazara was their best producing outfielder… At least that’s how their barely literate announcers made it sound.
Preller has bankrupted the franchise of young talent for improvements on a house in a bad neighborhood.
Fits in with the Phillies better than Bradley Zimmer.
6 HR’s over his last 147 games is a steep drop off from the 19 he had 2019. I’m sure he gets a minor league chance somewhere but NPB or KBO may definitely be in his future
The Padres make all the flashy moves but are still nowhere near the Dodgers. They are also drained the farm system so they are f’d in a few years. That Tatis contract is headed for disaster.
doyer fans always worrying about the Padres. Makes me laugh.
Instead of Calhoun, Miller and Culberson. Mazara makes sense. Bubba Thompson and Duran need to olay everyday though.
They should have cut Grisham!