They pay GMs to make hard decisions.
Rick Hahn has one.
Alejandro De Aza is a bipolar starter: he has his good attributes and bad ones.
De Aza, who had a .264/.323/.405 line with 17 homers, 62 RBIs and 20
steals, but with a negative 0.3 WAR, is arbitration eligible and expected to receive a bump to $4.4
million this season, per MLB Trade Rumors. De Aza struck out 147 times, which Hahn thinks was a result of being a
“little too power focused.” He also committed eight errors and saw his
Ultimate Zone Rating drop from 8.9 in 2011 to -2.5 last season. Also, De Aza made 26 outs on the bases. Had he simply instead not
reached base those 26 times, De Aza’s on-base percentage would have
slipped 39 points to .284.
The problem is that De Aza gives the line up one of its few left handed power hitters. Adam Dunn is in the final year of his contract. De Aza gives the White Sox better offensive production for a standard CF, but his defense and base running gives the team fits at times.
Also, the White Sox don't have a ready replacement for him. Jordan Danks hit .241 in the role as the 5th outfielder last season. Several media pundits have campaigned for the White Sox to sign free agent Curtis Granderson, but his price tag would be above $14 million per season, a payroll buster for 2014.
The Sox could move Alexi Ramirez to CF to allow the young infielders (Semein and L. Garcia) to get playing time. Ramirez may not make the defensive transition to center field. Besides, Ramirez as well as Beckham, have been the top two trade chips for the team this off-season.
If the Sox trade Ramirez or Beckham, one would assume the team would keep De Aza.
There are bigger holes to fill in the line up. Third base continues to be a black hole with no real solution so far. Paul Konerko has an offer to return (but we don't know in what role). The bullpen can always use some tweaking, too.
It would seem then that De Aza should stay for at least another season in Chicago.
