What To Do With Dayan?

March 9th, 2010 | by Howard |

So during a little down time, I like to troll through some of the other Chicago White Sox sites/blogs that are out there to get a better feel for what really interests the Sox’ everyman. I hit MLB’s Official White Sox site for the basics and then I move on over to South Side Sox and then to SoxTalk.com. Finally I hit up SoxMachine.com for a few more opinions and then I’m ready to go. And what did all of these sites have in common? They’re all cracking on Dayan Viciedo. The 20 year old (21 tomorrow, actually) Cuban defector has found himself a nice, cozy little home in the doghouse — and not just Ozzie Guillen’s, but Kenny Williams’ as well.

When Viciedo first joined the White Sox, there was plenty of hype. He was a highly touted, young slugging third baseman who was being primed to take over the hot corner on the South Side for years to come. Experts said he needed some minor league work first, but his 2009 spring performance hinted the other way. People talked about him getting an immediate call-up, but fortunately, the experts won out. And righfully so.

While Viciedo’s bat showed some much needed minor league work, his glove was even worse. His range at third was barely adequate, his arm was about average, and his technique said nothing to the effect of “Hey! I’m ready for the major leagues.” Viciedo rightfully languished in th eminors last season and showed very little promise of making the big club as a third baseman. It was so bad at times, that the club moved him over to first and then made the trade for Mark Teahen in the offseason. With Paul Konerko’s contract up at the end of the 2010 season, it afforded Vicido a golden opportunity.

So now here we are in Spring Training and Viciedo looks ok. Nothing spectacular, but ok. He dug out a few errant throws at first and made a couple of nice scoops during the first couple of spring games and looked like, with some more minor league work, he could be a viable option at some point. But then came Monday’s B game against the Dodgers, and things went from bad to worse for the kid.

Failing to run out a routine grounder, Viciedo became the focal point of Kenny Williams’ ire. The Sox GM left his perch at Camelback Ranch and immediately went to Ozzie Guillen with his complaints. Williams was visibly upset, as was Guillen who later said, “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.”

I couldn’t agree more. How do you half-ass it when you’ve got a job at stake? If your skills aren’t the best in the world, well, you better make sure your attitude is. I’ve seen players with less talent on big league clubs just because they go out there, give 100% day in/day out, and have an attitude that screams “whatever it takes to help the club.” I’m not really sure what Viciedo’s thought process was, or even if there was one, but the youngster is in for a rude awakening. Sox fans will remember (and actually they had this up on SoxMachine.com as well) that the last time Williams got his undies in a bunch over something like this, that player, Nick Swisher, was verbally ripped apart and dealt away shortly thereafter.

I would have to think, though, that Viciedo probably won’t get exiled from Camelback or the Sox club. He’s still plenty young. I’m sure the maturity level needs a lot of work (remember what you were like at 20) and it’s not like he was going to break camp with the big club anyway. However, this is certainly something that I’m sure Williams will monitor throughout the season. Some people seem to be blowing this off as “no big deal”, but at the professional level, this most certainly is a big deal. If you’re not going all out trying to make the club during Spring Training, then what the hell are you doing here? We’ll keep an eye on junior as the spring progresses and hopefully this will light a fire under his ass. If not, well, then maybe we can ship him back for a box of cigars or something.

Rating: 9.7/10 (3 votes cast)

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