Viciedo’s second verse worse than first

Written by Jim Margalus on March 18th, 2010

Dayan Viciedo’s second big-league camp wrapped up on Thursday, and as far as follow-ups go, 2010 was “House Party 4″ to 2009’s “House Party 3.”

  • 2010: 4-for-22, 0 XBH, 0 BB, 7 K
  • 2009: 6-for-26, 1 2B, 2 HR*

(*Going by memory, I thought he had one walk and seven strikeouts. So far, it’s unavailable.)

Along with the worsening numbers, he also became subject of a public scolding when he failed to run out a pop-up. But most disappointing to me was this nugget in a Joe Cowley article, which made me check the year the article was published:

What’s also impressive about the former Cuban standout is the fact that he recognizes that his lack of conditioning is something that has to be addressed.

”The No. 1 priority is staying in shape because everything else comes from that,” Viciedo said. ”That’s my No. 1 goal: getting and staying in shape.”

Unless I’m missing some unusually subtle Cowley sarcasm, this is bizarre, because I immediately thought of Ozzie Guillen’s quote from a Daily Herald story last spring:

“This kid never worked this hard in his life. We have a program he has to. He never had spring training like we do in major-league baseball. I don’t think they run and do things for 3-4 hours straight up doing stuff. It’s new for him and he should be tired, sore. No question about it. It’s the first time he’s done this.”

OK, but now this is the second time he’s done this, and he’s still noticeably overweight.  So, to review, we have a guy with a history of being out of shape who shows up to his second spring training with an even bigger muffin top, and somehow his self-awareness is “impressive?”

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Mitchell, eight more get cut

Written by Jim Margalus on March 17th, 2010

Jared Mitchell underwent surgery to repair a tendon tear on the inside of his right ankle on Tuesday:

Mitchell will be immobilized for four to six weeks before beginning the rehabilitation process. Tuesday’s 75-minute procedure, performed by Dr. John Nassar, a foot and ankle specialist at the Greenbaum Outpatient Surgery in Scottsdale, Ariz., went “OK. I think.”

“Somehow we ended up taking out more parts than we put back in,” Nassar said, “but everything seems to fit, so…”

Just kidding.  It went “extremely well.” Still, Mitchell will miss the entire season.

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In previous springs, open competitions in the bullpen (2007), infield (2009) and center field (every year) failed to thrill.  That said, this year’s righty fight is going down to the wire with three outstanding performances.

Daniel Hudson, Sergio Santos and Greg Aquino each held the Rockies scoreless in their appearances during the White Sox’s 6-1 victory on Tuesday.

*Hudson threw two scoreless innings, striking out two while allowing just one hit. It was Hudson’s most effective outing of the spring (he’s allowed five runs on 10 hits and a walk over eight innings, striking out just three), but Ozzie Guillen has liked the way he’s throwing.

*Santos retired two batters, both by the strikeout, giving him seven over 4 2/3 innings. He did walk two batters, though, which was his first flash of the wildness he’s known for this preseason.

*Aquino is the big surprise. After retiring all four batters he faced, he’s now thrown 6 1/3 hitless innings over three outings.

Santos seems to be the leader unless he continues walking three batters an inning, if only because he’s out of options.  He might have to fall hard to get back to Charlotte at this point with the stuff he’s shown.

Behind Santos is Aquino, who might give Guillen some D.J. Carrasco-like versatility, even if, like Carrasco, he has to bide his time with the Knights for a while. Hudson, through no fault of his own, looks like a lock for Triple-A.

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Sox vs. Royals: Mistakes were made

Written by Jim Margalus on March 16th, 2010

In his first plate appearance against his former team on Monday night, Scott Podsednik singled off Mark Buehrle.

This handsome, hilarious Carl Skanberg illustration can be found in White Sox Outsider 2010. Buy it!

And then Buehrle picked him off.  Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone remarked how they had seen that before.  Stone did the same when Podsednik ran an indirect route on Alejandro De Aza’s fly to deep center, resulting in a triple that would score the Sox’s only run.

As much respect as I have for Podsednik, it’s nice seeing that take place in another uniform.

Ozzie Guillen may have enjoyed the change of pace, too.  Joe Cowley tweeted that Guillen yelled to the Royals’ first base coach, “‘(Pods) will get you fired!’”

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C.J. Retherford has long been a favorite of Harrelson.  At the end of the weekend, he played his way onto Guillen’s radar screen as well:

”I love him,” Guillen said. ”So far, what we ask him to do in spring training, he does — move the guy over, get big hits for us, he does. He’s a sleeper, but he has started waking people up.”

He was 2-for-2 in moving runners from second to third on Saturday.  And while Retherford was doing everything asked of him, Nix hadn’t been fulfilling Guillen’s chief objective  — striking out less.

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My, my, my, my Mitchell

Written by Jim Margalus on March 14th, 2010

Tuesday will be the most important day of the 2010 season. So far.

That’s when Jared Mitchell will undergo surgery on a torn ankle tendon, which he suffered while making a great catch against the wall during split-squad action in Tempe on Friday. The initial impression is that he’s done for the year, although if it’s just the tendon, an August return might not be out of the question.

Phil Rogers is already preparing for the worst:

A walk later, Mitchell broke for third on the front end of a double steal. He dove toward the bag, reaching for it with an outstretched hand, and beat the throw from Brad Ausmus by a fingernail.

Exciting play. Exciting player.

It’s going to be awhile, if ever, before we see that from Mitchell again.

But seriously, he does have a point in the final graf, when he says Mitchell’s injury could have been prevented had the Sox not sent a squad up to Las Vegas for what he called a “cash grab” with the Cubs, as he was already re-assigned to minor league camp.

That’s a valid concern, although Rogers has a habit of taking Sox prospects’ hardships rather personally.  Also, it puts Dayan Viciedo’s jog to first in a different light. Not that running to first and crashing into a wall pose the same health risks, but there is some value in taking it easier when the games don’t count.

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Front office talk, occasionally about baseball

Written by Jim Margalus on March 12th, 2010

Don Cooper, occasionally sounding like he’s on autotune, appeared on Boers and Bernstein, and the rumor is true — he’s not a fan of the cameras.

B&B: Coop, are we going to see you prominently displayed on that MLB reality show? Or are you trying to hide when the cameras are popping up.

Cooper: You know what? To tell you the truth, I’m not all that comfortable with it … it’s kind of like foreigners being in on our meetings and things like that… the other day, I kinda got miked up for the game, and I hadn’t done that in seven years. Seven years ago, I got miked up for a game, felt extremely uncomfortable, did not enjoy it, and for the life of me, I have no idea why I said “yes” to it the other day. And 10 minutes after I got started, I said, “What in the hell did I get myself into?” Because I could not have fun with it. I just didn’t feel like I could be myself.

The guy who heckled Cooper the other day?  He’s 80 years old, and not an MLB Network plant, according to Scott Reifert.

Meanwhile, Ozzie Guillen says he has dropped plans for a personal website because “a few guys from the front office didn’t like the idea.”  Reifert said the communications staff didn’t have any problems.  Maybe Kenny Williams did, though:

‘‘Don’t ask me another question about Twitter, websites [sic], blog, radio shows, non [sic] of that [crap],’’ Williams wrote in a text message. ‘‘All I care about is players playing, coaches coaching and managers managing. If they do that and do it well, we got no problems, but if they don’t …’’

Opening Day can’t come soon enough.

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Rick Hahn, by comparison, got off easy.  He sat down for a conference call with some White Sox bloggers/site operators, and while he had to take numerous questions about unpopular/unclear decisions — Scott Linebrink’s contract, the rotating DH, Mark Teahen’s extension — at least he was talking about baseball, and not social media.

But who knows? Maybe he’s a big Mashable guy.  Some highlights…

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Hudson looking like 6th starter, not 7th reliever

Written by Jim Margalus on March 11th, 2010

Ozzie Guillen doesn’t often say what many of us want to hear, but he surprised on Wednesday:

If manager Ozzie Guillen has his way, Hudson probably will start the season in the starting rotation at Charlotte.

“To me, he needs to go out and pitch,” Guillen said after Hudson allowed four hits and two runs in two innings against the A’s. “I think we have to keep this kid ready just in case something happens (to a starter).”

This is good news.  Not that putting Hudson in the bullpen was bad news, as Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Gavin Floyd and Clayton Richard have shown, but Hudson still needs to work on his third pitch, and a bullpen on a contending team with an unimpressive offense isn’t the greatest place to take lumps in stride.

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Case in point: Aaron Poreda.

Some of you have already seen the line he posted for the Padres on Wednesday, but if not, it bears highlighting:

0 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K

I wouldn’t make too much of this, because he tossed two scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts, and had a tendency to lose the zone when he was in the Sox system.

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Spring training, made for TV

Written by Jim Margalus on March 10th, 2010

Ozzie Guillen joins Twitter. Dayan Viciedo receives a public scolding from Kenny Williams for failing to run out a pop-up.  A pitching coach gets heckled in a virtually empty stadium. All in the first week of game action.

In a spring training with very few open spots and fewer problems, it’s funny that so many odd secondary plots are emerging … especially when the Sox are the subject of a reality show for the MLB Network.

Will Linebrink sing the blues?

Joe Cowley spent Monday tweeting often about the presence of cameras, and according to our friend Carl, he also brought it up to Chris Rongey on The Score on Monday evening.  Cowley said that Cooper wondered — perhaps jokingly — that the heckler was an MLB Network plant.

It’s an interesting theory. The thrill of spring training is that baseball exists, and there’s not a lot more to it. Especially when it’s cold(ish) and raining and games are delayed or canceled. So when Viciedo gets hammered while a guy with a fat reputation plods like a fat guy and turns an easy RBI single into a play at the plate, it’s not wrong to raise an eye, although Cowley mentions the Swisher thing, too.

But for giggles, if the Sox and/or MLB Network are actually exaggerating events for effect — probably unlikely, but yaneverknow — I have a few more ideas.

No. 1: During Woodjock, Jake Peavy’s charity musical event, Scott Linebrink joins him onstage for “Hotel California.”  He takes the outro solo, then promptly breaks a string.  Peavy yells, “Damnit, Liney, wait ’til the regular season to blow leads!”  The crowd laughs.  Linebrink storms off the stage, but guest vocalist Omar Vizquel brings them back together with a stunning rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

But wait! Then, it’s discovered that Vizquel lip-synched the entire song, and Linebrink wonders who isn’t living a lie.

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Guillen’s doghouse gets first guest: Viciedo

Written by Jim Margalus on March 9th, 2010

Dayan Viciedo is not doing himself any favors this spring.  He followed up a two-at-bat, two-strikeout performance that looked as ugly as it can get on Saturday by not running out a pop-up in Monday’s “B” game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sitting in the Camelback Ranch stands with assistant general manager Rick Hahn, Williams yelled from his perch about Viciedo’s lack of effort on this particular play. It was a stern suggestion, with no margin for interpretation, regarding this non-grinder type of move. [...]

“I was more upset than Kenny was. We don’t put up with that stuff here, and we don’t like players playing like that,” said Guillen, speaking on the matter following the White Sox 5-4 loss to the Mariners in the afternoon’s Cactus League contest.

We’ll see what happens, but there’s a precedent. The last time Williams bitched out a player for not running hard down the first base line in a meaningless spring game, he was eventually traded to the New York Yankees for a garbage plate.

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Assorted thoughts:

*Alex Rios, making his debut in the outfield as he gets over a sore shoulder, looked good in his two at-bats, smoking a single to left and crushing a homer just left of center.  He says old video clued him in to how he lost his stance.  Whatever the case may be, he certainly wasn’t pulling off the ball.

*Daniel Cabrera may not throw 98 m.p.h. anymore, and he still may have no idea where it’ s going, but at least he’s extremely slow to the plate.

*Sergio Santos struggled with fastball location as well, but he looked like he had more confidence in his slider.  Watching the reactions he induced with it, you can see why.

*Bill Melton said Mark Kotsay was “well liked” moments before bouncing into a 6-4-3 double play.  I’m thinking of calling him “Biff.”  We need a new nickname now that the Gentleman Masher has moved on.

 

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Raining Arizona

Written by Jim Margalus on March 8th, 2010

In what will be a blow for Camelback Ranch attendance figures, Sunday’s White Sox-Cubs tilt became a Cactus League rarity — a rainout.

Mark Gonzalez informed us through Twitter that the last Sox rainout was March 11, 2006. I remember that one well — the game was played in the Phoenix area, but because the forecast looked so terrible (some areas saw snow), my buddy Matt and I decided to hang back in merely cold and windy Tucson and catch the Mariners-Diamondbacks game instead.

That day, I watched a first-round bust for Seattle get knocked around the park.  Nine days later, the White Sox acquired him for Joe Borchard.

Though the Cubs-Sox game was canceled, it won’t hurt Jerry Reinsdorf’s finances.  Tickets to canceled events aren’t refunded at Camelback Ranch — they can only be exchanged. Click to continue »

 

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Armstrong less than meets the eye

Written by Jim Margalus on March 7th, 2010

If I had no access to minor-league box scores, stats or splits, or maybe if I were just a more casual fan, I would look at Cole Armstrong and wonder why the White Sox went out of their way to acquire Tyler Flowers.

Counting Saturday’s 15-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs, I’ve now seen Armstrong play 11 times.  And because I have a big 100-game scorebook I take to every game that counts, I have a record of Armstrong’s performances when I’m watching.  Over 32 plate appearances, here’s his line:

.517/.531/.871

It includes such performances as his back-to-back 2-for-2’s that briefly put him in the backup conversation a couple spring trainings ago, a big three-run homer in the last game of my Carolina trip last summer, and his amazing Triple-A debut against Richmond:

Cole Armstrong, June 28, 2008.

Maybe I’m Armstrong’s performance-enhancer.  That would be pretty sad. For both of us.

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I WATCHED SIX HOURS OF BASEBALL TODAY! Some thoughts on the players needing to make positive spring impressions:

*Carlos Quentin should be put on Mark Buehrle’s spring training schedule.  He looked ready for Opening Day, taking Carlos Silva deep twice while driving in five. He’s sore, but not there:

“I say general soreness,” Quentin said. “No sorer than it would be if I was healthy three years ago. It’s fatigue. Soreness as in maybe my feet just ache –  both of them. That’s must from being in cleats.

“It’s not a thought in my head where I’m concerned about that specific location. I’ll clarify that. So besides spring training, it standard soreness, I’ve been very fortunate and it’s a very touchy subject for me to talk about. It’s been very good so far.”

If he’s trying to limit his running, this is a good way to do it. Click to continue »

 

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