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Hot Sox and the impending roster crunch

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

As you might expect from a team finishing the first half with 25 wins in their last 30 games, the Sox have been propelled by a number of hot streaks.  Some we’ve been waiting on, and others have come out of nowhere, and when you add them all up, it means that somebody’s going to get jobbed in the next couple weeks if nothing changes.

Below are the sluggin’ Sox who have made Mark Teahen’s return more complicated than originally anticipated when the Sox were scuffling six weeks ago.

Carlos Quentin

Hot streak: .368/.469/.926, 11 homers in 68 AB since June 16.

For real? He’s not going to burn this hot, but he’s raised his season line to .244/.344/.523.  That seems like a perfectly predictable season line, and we know he has the talent to exceed it when all is right.

Why? He’s absolutely murdering the ball.

But wait: Injuries.  It’s all pretty simple.  Sliding Quentin to the DH role for half the time — or more — seems to be ideal at this point, but thanks to Teahen, that might not even result in the optimal defensive lineup.

Andruw Jones

Hot streak: .333/.444/.619 over the last week, with five walks.

For real? Nope.

Why not? Jones had hit just one homer over the previous two months before going deep twice in the last week — and those happened to be on the fattest off-speed pitches imaginable. Jered Weaver grooved a changeup, and Anthony Lerew hung a navel-high curve.  Jones had enough time to crow-hop and aim for the Fundamentals Deck.

But wait: There’s an outside chance that Jones was pressing in order to reach the 400-homer mark, and I did see him actually bounce a single through the right side – intentionally — over the past week.  That was a marked departure over his usual swing-until-my-girdle-breaks approach, and perhaps he had an epiphany of sorts. Doubtful, but hey.

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Let’s grant Andruw independence

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

A handful of thoughts and a bucketful of dreams over the past couple of days while I enjoy a brief vacation:

Can we pull the plug on Andruw Jones? Not only was his 0-for-4 on Saturday night particularly ugly (two strikeouts and a first pitch double-play in what turned out to be a three-pitch inning), but now he’s in a 3-for-44 slump.

Or, if you want to go back further, he’s 18-for-117 since April 27.

At this point, I think any at-bats that could potentially end up in his hands should go to Dayan Viciedo, who hasn’t looked overmatched yet, and it would be nice to know if he will be.  Any outfield starts that could go to him should to go Mark Kotsay, who at least has a pulse.  And maybe…

Brent Lillibridge should get some more action. After his big ninth-inning double that went to waste on Saturday, Lillibridge is 4-for-4 as a pinch hitter.  Moreover, all four hits have gone for extra bases, including a huge bases-clearing triple the time before.

There is a risk of overexposing whatever adjustments he has made, but I think an all-fields approach should be rewarded instead of watching Jones spin himself into the ground with two strikes and make no-look catches when he hasn’t backed up the act in years.

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Viciedo sets sail; Sale set with Sox

Monday, June 21st, 2010

After a false start — and a correct one — Dayan Viciedo made his major-league debut against a guy tailor-made to suit the Cuban Pimp’s strengths.

When challenged by lefty John Lannan, who entered today’s game with 35 walks and 23 strikeouts in 71 innings, Viciedo looked like a phenom.

Dayan Viciedo follows through on his first major-league hit; more photos below the jump.

Nyjer Morgan robbed him of his first hit, a deep drive to right-center that might have left U.S. Cellular Field.  But he wouldn’t have to wait long to establish a batting average, as he ripped a single along the same line in his next trip to the plate.

Viciedo stung the ball pretty well in his third at-bat off crafty righty Miguel Batista, but he hit it right at Cristian Guzman as he started a 4-6-3 double play.  He only looked overmatched when facing power-fastball-slider guy Drew Storen.

He was rarely tested defensively, but handled the one chance he had by starting a 5-4-3 double play.  Another hard shot got past him, but he was positioned too far off the line to have a realistic shot at it.

Viciedo’s debut can’t be called anything but a success, and Ozzie Guillen played it well by starting him in ideal conditions. The lack of action at third was icing on the cake.

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Ready or not, here comes Viciedo

Friday, June 18th, 2010

It looks like we have our answer on why Brent Morel played shortstop in a game last week.

Dayan Viciedo is joining the big league club, taking the spot of the freshly DFA’d Jayson Nix:

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox will call up rookie Dayan Viciedo, they announced after Thursday’s 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Infielder Jayson Nix was designated for assignment.

Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said at his postgame news conference he and GM Kenny Williams needed to talk about playing time for the 21-year-old Cuban slugger, but his first start wouldn’t come Friday against Washington Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg.

“Viciedo’s got to wait,” Guillen said. “I’m going to pick a spot to see who’s pitching and the matchup and play him. Obviously he’s not playing tomorrow. I don’t want to have him remember his first game of his career against that kid.”

This move makes sense, although Viciedo will probably be used sparingly due to his present inability to hit righties:

  • vs. LHP: .365/.426/.800, four walks over 55 ABs.
  • vs. RHP: .268/.298/.443, four walks over 183 ABs.

But really, hitting lefties is all they need Viciedo to do, and even if he’s not ready, he’d be hard-pressed to hit them worse than Nix did.  The Shetland Pony was just 2-for-28 against southpaws, which made him useless.  He hadn’t played well at third, so if “versatility” was the only thing he offered, Omar Vizquel and Brent Lillibridge can easily handle his duties.

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Minor league monthly: Charlotte and Birmingham

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Mark Teahen’s fractured finger triggered a flurry of activity in the minor-league ranks. Here’s a list of all the movement that happened in its wake:

And somewhere along the line, Erick Threets returned to action and Jhonny Nunez received a call to Charlotte as well.

Oh, and Trayce Thompson is out for a couple months after undergoing thumb surgery (h/t Larry).

So with all that on the table for the month ahead, let’s take a look at what happened in the minors to get to this point.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

Record: 21-31 (tied for last place)
Team offense: .692 OPS (12th in IL)
Team pitching: 4.58 ERA (12th in IL)

PITCHING DEPTH AT THE READY

Daniel Hudson
6-2, 4.56 ERA, 53 1/3 IP, 54 H, 8 HR, 16 BB, 62 K

It looks like Hudson just wanted to put a little scare in us.  He’s back to his old self and then some.

  • April: 2-2, 9.37 ERA, 16 1/3 IP, 6 HR, 8 BB, 18 K, .352 BAA
  • May: 4-0, 2.43 ERA, 37 IP, 2 HR, 8 BB, 44 K, .210 BAA.

The scouting reports are favorable, so it looks like he’s merely waiting for a chance. Funny how it looked like Freddy Garcia was the most replaceable, and now it’s Jake Peavy.

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Minor league monthly: Charlotte and Birmingham

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

While Larry looks at the minor-league season in terms of weeks, I like to take a look at the system in months.  April’s in the books, so what does the farm look like?

Not much, sadly.  Tyler Flowers makes it Christina Hendricks-grade top-heavy, but there isn’t anything below to balance it out.

We’ll always remember 2009. So will the folks in Birmingham.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

Record: 9-14 (tied for last place)
Team offense: .720 OPS (9th in IL)
Team pitching: 5.15 ERA (13th in IL)

READY FOR WHATEVER

Tyler Flowers
.323/.432/.614, 4 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 9 BB, 21 K

Flowers is clearly in time-biding mode.  If Andruw Jones is ever pressed into full-time outfield duty, whether it’s due to Juan Pierre’s ineptitude or Carlos Quentin’s poor health, Flowers should be the first option to serve as the majority DH and occasional catcher.

Allow me to reiterate that Flowers seems like he’ll be a slow starter at the major-league level due to his K-rate.  For whatever reason — probably because A.J. Pierzynski is a great clubhouse source — there are a lot of people waiting, perhaps even hoping, for Flowers to fail.  But he’s the only hope the Sox have of getting an above-average hitter for the league minimum, so that kind of pressure seems to be counterproductive.

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Viciedo’s second verse worse than first

Thursday, 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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Guillen’s doghouse gets first guest: Viciedo

Tuesday, 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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Putting the ‘bull’ in ‘bullpen’

Friday, December 4th, 2009

A few notes in the lead-up to the winter meetings:

*Takashi Saito signed with the Braves for one year and $3 million — which is the price Timmeh tagged him with in his offseason plan.  Nice work.

A commenter at Baseball Think Factory mentioned that the Red Sox basically shielded Saito from arduous workloads, only pitching him in back-to-back games three times over the course of the season.  Considering his age and arm problems, the White Sox probably would have had to go a similar route – and they already have to protect Scott Linebrink and his $5 million contract that way.

*Speaking of Linebrink, Kenny Williams thinks he might be “tipping his pitches”:

“We’ve got to find answers because he’s too good to have struggled like that,” said Williams of Linebrink, who had a 1.93 ERA prior to the All-Star Game. “His stuff is too good.”

To me, this sounds like Williams’ quote about Nick Masset:

“You get more real answers when a guy takes a step backwards,” Williams added. “Now, he’s got to try and figure it out a little bit.”

Anyway, I’m not inclined to believe it. For one, “tipping pitches” is the “dog ate my homework” excuse of the pitching world. It’s occasionally true, but awfully convenient.

Plus, his average fastball clocked 93.6 m.p.h. last year. That was the fastest of his career, but it also seemed to be straight as an arrow.  Add in his decreasing ground ball rate and uptick in walks, and I’d accept overthrowing as an issue before pitch-tipping.

*Phil Rogers gets Buddy Bell’s opinion on Dayan Viciedo:

“One of our biggest concerns with him was the culture,” Bell said. “The kid turned out to be maybe the best teammate we had at Birmingham … He’s a great kid.”

Bell compares the 20-year-old Viciedo to the Angels’ Kendry Morales, a more experienced Cuban who needed 309 games in the minor leagues before establishing himself as a big-leaguer. “He’ll figure it out,” Bell said of Viciedo. “He’s so strong. He’s going to be a good big-league hitter.”

I’m still inclined to agree. Out of all the hitters I’ve seen this year, he provided the most reason for excitement. As a fielder… he’s not much of one.

*Sports Illustrated listed the White Sox farm system in the 16-25 range of Baseball America’s rankings. I suppose it’s a testament to the system’s health that the Sox can trade away three top-10  players and still stay out of the bottom five.

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Viciedo injured, and one more plan

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

We can officially call Dayan Viciedo’s first minor-league season “underwhelming.”

Dayan Viciedo.

Dayan Viciedo.

His Arizona Fall League experience came to an end on Monday. He’d missed the last handful of games, and it turns out elbow inflammation is the culprit.  His final AFL line is full of 1′s and 6′s:

18 AB, 6 R, 6 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K.

There is a silver lining — Brent Morel, who is nearly as interesting as Viciedo, takes his place.  And with Jordan Danks posting a 1.210 OPS so far, it’s been a pretty good year for fall ball thus far.

Joe Cowley seems to think Viciedo will be good enough to attend Camp Cora in January. Hopefully that’s the case, and Viciedo won’t be dragging around a bum arm.

Since we’re on the subject of Cubans and about to introduce another offseason plan, this seems as good a time as any to mention that the Sox have expressed interest in Aroldis Chapman.

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Our final offseason plan (for now) comes through e-mail courtesy of Matt:

MUST-MAKE DECISIONS

1) Octavio Dotel: Arbitration, or not?

Dotel – Walk

2) Jermaine Dye: Mutual option, arbitration, or not?

Dye – Buyout

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