Now that Dayan Viciedo has successfully made the transition from range-impaired third baseman to passable right fielder at Triple-A the 22-year-old prospect told Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he’s “ready” for another chance with the White Sox.
And general manager Ken Williams apparently agrees, telling Merkin that “it would be awfully interesting to have him in this lineup” and “he’s obviously got some things he still needs to work on, but I would have no qualms about bringing him here.”
Now the only question is how the White Sox could create an opening in the lineup for him.
Alex Rios and Adam Dunn are slumping, but big contracts mean they aren’t going anywhere. Coming into the season there was speculation about Viciedo replacing Carlos Quentin in right field, but now Quentin is leading the White Sox in homers and ranks eighth among AL hitters in OPS.
All of which seems to point to Juan Pierre as the odd man out since he’s gone from light-hitting to no-hitting, batting just .259 with a .628 OPS while being thrown out on half of his steal attempts. Replacing Pierre with Viciedo--by way of Quentin shifting to left field--would be a defensive downgrade, but with Viciedo hitting .313 with 10 homers and an .877 OPS in 61 games at Triple-A the swap would also dramatically change the White Sox’s lineup.