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 hasto. He never had spring training like we do in major-league baseball. I don’t think they run and do things for 3-4hours 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’sdone 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?"
This ain't exactly the way to enter a crucial year in which Viciedo has more on his metaphorical plate than he does on his cafeteria one.
He's expected to start the year at Charlotte (he's heading to Charlotte's camp now, but he did the same last year and ended up in Birmingham). It'll be a tall task to handle Triple-A pitching when he was barely adequate Double-A, and spent the spring leaping out of his shoes at bad curve balls. He'll be learning a new position in the process.
And on top of that, it remains to be seen if he can last an entire year. He seemed to tire in August last season, and had to leave the Arizona Fall League early with elbow soreness.
This isn't writing off Viciedo, because he has the kind of bat speed and opposite-field power to wait back on those off-speed pitches that baffle him right now. Still, if he looks that bad at the plate and worse in jeans, what exactly did he do all winter? That's what's baffling me.
Hell, even Andruw Jones showed up ready to play. He hit his first homer, and added a double and a walk as well, raising his Cactus League average to an even .400. There are still plenty of reasons to doubt him, but there's no knocking what he's doing right now.
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While reading this story, I head-butted my dog so hard that we bothscreamed:
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- There's a great deal of life in everything Jake Peavy does, from playing the guitar to talking about his passion for the San Diego Chargers and the University of Alabama national champion football team.
Simply put, Peavy doesn't do anything halfway. And his exemplary competitive fire shown on the mound stands as a staple of what makes him successful.
Peavy threw five good innings against the Dodgers, striking out six while allowing just five baserunners. The damage was limited to a James Loney homer, after which Peavy engaged in self-reflexive profanity because it was on a 1-2 count.
Watching Peavy work should be a treat this year. I'm overly pumped just thinking about it.
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More highlights from Wednesday's 5-1 victory over Los Angeles:
- Jones drove in four of the five runs.
- Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko had two hits apiece.
- Matt Thornton, Tony Pena, Carlos Torres and Scott Linebrink each threw a scoreless inning.
Ramon Castro left the game after getting hit in the head with a pitch. He's fine, as far as Ozzie Guillen knows:
"They don't have an MRI machine big enough. They need like seven of those machines for his head.''
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Besides Viciedo, four more players departed big-league camp on Wednesday:
- Jeff Marquez
- Stefan Gartrell
- Jason Botts (released)
- Daniel Cabrera (released)
It looks like I was wrong by calling Cabrera the next John Van Benschoten, because Van Benschoten hung around the White Sox organization the entire year. Cabrera couldn't make it through the spring.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Bobby Jenks will try working from a windup over the last 2 1/2 weeks to aid his sore calf, which should be interesting.
*Gordon Beckham has been dealing with a sore shoulder that stems from not throwing as much in the offseason. First Jenks, now Beckham -- doesn't anybody want to have a catch anymore?
*J.J. Putz says he's "89.4 percent" ready for Opening Day.
*The Cowley Turmoil Tour takes him to Freddy Garcia, and also back 1 1/2 years, as he implies the possibility of shenanigans when Garcia left Game 162 suddenly in 2008.
