We can officially call Dayan Viciedo's first minor-league season "underwhelming."
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
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.
