Viciedo injured, and one more plan

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.ย  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.ย  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

FLEXIBLE DECISIONS
3) One-year contract for John Danks? If not, what would you pay to extend him?
I think a multi-year offer similar to the one Jon Lester got would be fair. I can’t think of a more comparable pitcher to Danks than Lester. If he doesn’t go for that then go to year-to-year with him.
4) One-year contract for Bobby Jenks, extension or trade?
Jenks – You have to keep Jenks but under no cirumstance should they offer him a multi-year deal. The problem with trading Jenks is that it moves everybody in the bullpen up one job. So, while Matt Thorton would probably make a solid closer (see Brian Fuentes) it moves both Tony Pena and Scott Linebrink into roles they should not be in on a contender.
FREE AGENCY
5) Which positions are in most dire need of an upgrade?
One of the corner outfield spots are in dire need of an upgrade more than anything else on this team. It would be nice to have at the spot filled by an athletic player not named Scott Podsednik. I simply don’t think he’ll be cheap enough to make sense nor do I think he can duplicate his career year in 2009.
6) Name three (or more) free agents you’d consider, at a price.
Sign Bobby Abreu to a 2 year $20 million dollar contract. (I don’t expect the Angels to be able to sign him along with Chone Figgins and John Lackey)
Sign Joe Beimel or Will Ohman for a 1 year deal around $2.5 million
Sign J.J. Putz to an incentive laden deal.
TRADES
7) Name three (or more) realistic trades that could improve the Sox team.
I don’t see any trade as a likely scenario unless we’re getting a superstar outfielder for Jenks but he didn’t have the season that would warrant something like that. I’m thinking we should stand pat till the trade deadline if we need an extra piece (see Chris Getz getting bit by the injury bug).
SUMMARY
Obviously, the White Sox need to replace Dye at the very least and I assume they’ll need to replace Scott Podsednik as well. All in all the White Sox need a backup catcher to replace Ramon Castro, two corner outfielders, a lefty out of the pen to replace Randy Williams and a designated hitter. Kenny Williams isn’t a guy that spends big bucks in the free agent market and most of his moves are made through trades. The White Sox don’t have a ton of money to spend due to the trades and waiver claims made for Jake Peavy and Alex Rios, respectively. My key to the offseason is getting Bobby Abreu to fill one of the corner outfield spots and beyond that, one buy low right-handed option out of the pen and a semi-reliable second lefty would be lovely. Getting a backup catcher isn’t critical because no matter who it is they’ll probably be terrible. They always are. Cole Armstrong makes sense in the short term but he’s essentially a bad version of A.J. Pierzynski (throws righty, bats lefty). I’m fine with rotating the designated hitter spot especially if either Tyler Flowers or Dayan Viciedo can make the club.
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Arizona Fall League:

  • Peoria 2, Surprise 1
    • Jordan Danks went 1-for-3 with a walk, RBI and two strikeouts.
    • C.J. Retherford singled, walked and struck out in three plate appearances.
    • Justin Cassel threw four shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk. No strikeouts, but eight groundouts.

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Letโ€™s talk curling.

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iowaoaks

The price tag that is being throw around on Chapman is anything but right. I would think the Sox would be out of anything in that 40 to 60 million range. Seems way steep. I get that everyone THINKS he’s this good, but is he?

fundman

And let’s not forget Beckham won his second ROY award yesterday.

iowaoaks

That would say something about how THE awards are given out, now wouldn’t it.

roman7

I doubt that the White Sox will get into any bidding war for Bobby Abreu and/or Scott Podsednik. Not to mention the multi-year levels to which a club will have to go for either player is too risky.
I also don’t see why the Sox have to go after 2 corner OFer’s. Sure, Jermaine Dye is walking but we can assume that Carlos Quentin will resume duties in RF (his natural position). That means the Sox need to fill 1 OF spot and I suggest targeting a player like Coco Crisp. Doubtful that the Royals bring him back and Crisp is a very strong glove and has had experience leading off. At the very least he can put up Podsednik average’s without the risk of a injury riddle campaign with his groin.
I also would like to see Thome return to the Sox. His lefty bat is needed and during his tenure with the Sox he has produced to exactly what we could of expected for a players in his late ’30’s. Let him chase 600 with our clup on a 1/yr deal with a club option for the 2nd.
Backup catcher needs to be a defensive specialist. What Wil Nieves? Don’t know his contract status with Washington but got to believe he could be available. Otherwise the more expensive route would be a guy like Henry Blanco. Flowers should get a full dose of C in Charlotte so he can be ready to assume full-time duties in 2011.
My lineup:
Crisp
Beckham
Quentin
Thome
Konerko
Rios
AJP
Alexei
Getz
De Aza
Kotsay
Nix
Retherford
Blanco
Buehrle
Peavy
Danks
Floyd
Garcia
Carrasco
Pena
LHP (what happens to Mike Gonzalez after ATL lets him go?)
Linebrink
Thornton
Jenks

knoxfire30

I really dont want crisps obp anywhere near the top of my order, and bringing in a good gloved centerfielder kills a lot of rios’s value since he is pretty good in cf but wont hit enough to be a solid corner outfielder.

jimbo

I prefer Mike Cameron over Crisp but there is nothing wrong with moving Rios to RF if we can pick up a decent outfielder who happens to play CF. Rios is a very good defensive Right Fielder and will hit 20+ homers. I’m not concerned with Rios individual value, I’m concerned with the team winning. I’d like to see us add 2 good outfielders and use Quentin as a DH the majority of the time.

knoxfire30

Im all for improving but if we are using precious dollars in free agency I need it to be a power bat who preferably hits from the left side, not sure crisp adds much of anything offensively that we need, and Rios already being solid in center means he isnt as attractive to the whitesox as he may have been last year or the year before.

roman7

Crisp sports an OBP that is just as efficient as Pods’, only Crisp gives you a superb LF option. I contend that you leave Rios in CF.
We don’t need another power-hitting OFer if you already take care of your power with Rios, Q, PK and the DH (Thome). You need hitters that can do the other things needed in a major league lineup. Not to mention the Sox still need to fill out a lineup card and have no one to pencil in at #1.
I also don’t see Q becoming a full-time DH this early in his career. If anything Q still needs the distraction of playing the field to take his mind of his last, and next, at-bat.
How does adding another quality defensive player kill Rios’ value?

stopdrop8

What about carlos delgado? He’s coming off an injury riddled season and is exactly the type of left handed bat we could use. Would a base salary of 5-6 million with incentives and a solid option for next year be enough?

timmeh

The concern is if he’ll stay healthy. Also, the sox don’t need a permanent DH like Thome has been the past few years. I think alternating between different players will probably be the course they take.