The White Sox opened a spot on their 40-man roster by allowing Thyago Vieira to pursue an opportunity in Japan, and they filled the Vieira-shaped hole in their roster with a Vieira-shaped player.
OK, the 6-foot-8-inch Tayron Guerrero wouldn't exactly fit the same mold as the 6'2" Vieira, but other similarities remain.
- Hails from South American non-baseball hotbed? Yup.
- Monster fastball? Check.
- Lack of success despite the velocity? Indeed.
The Colombian Guerrero comes to the White Sox with 106 MLB innings under his belt -- Vieira, who hails from Brazil, had one -- but the body of work leaves a lot to be desired just the same. The 28-year-old has a 5.77 ERA over 113 appearances, 112 of which have come with the Marlins over the last two years (he made one appearance with the Padres in 2016).
Guerrero received that many chances because both teams were terrible, yes, but also because his fastball sits at 99 mph. Statcast said only Jordan Hicks racked up more 100 mph fastballs than Guerrero, who threw one of every five pitches for triple digits. Vieria only cracked 100 mph on 4 percent of his pitches for comparison. Guerrero wins.
To simply describe Guerrero's problem, he doesn't throw enough strikes, resulting in a tiny 3.2 percent gap between his strikeout and walk rates (19.9 to 16.7). To go into a little more detail, he's a one-pitch pitcher when behind in the count, and his fastball doesn't have carry.
The White Sox didn't have luck with Vieira on this kind of project. They did turn large-armed Jimmy Cordero into a capable reliever last year, although he achieved his viability to turning his changeup from an afterthought into his primary non-fastball offering. Guerrero's only thrown a handful of pitches that aren't fastballs or sliders, so unless they can coax a nearly nonexistent pitch out of him, the task at hand is probably more typical: throw more strikes, preferably with both pitches.
That said, the Sox ended up no worse for the wear in terms of bullpen depth after the non-tender deadline. While they non-tendered Ryan Burr and Caleb Frare, both returned to the fold on minor-league deals. Vieira might be gone for good, but Guerrero will fly the same freak flag, and with a better chance at a payoff.
