AND THAT'S A WHITE SOX WINNER!!! X2

[Rowand44]

I am not.

Nope. I'm done with him.

[The Ultimate Champion]

If anything Tank has the opportunity to prove he should be "in the mix" for next year but if there is an upgrade available at 1B/DH/LF then obviously you take it. And let's be honest say absolute best case Viciedo turns into a league average 1B that hits 260/300/450 -- that's still hardly even a 1.5 WAR player -- and that's best case. I just don't see him ever having enough power to carry his lack of fielding.

Viciedo has enough power and bat speed to go with it to make up for any lack of ability elsewhere.

 

But I just don't know about him. I don't think he barrels the ball up very well, I think he takes his eye off the ball a lot with 2 strikes, I think he sometimes makes decisions too soon in the batters box and is overaggressive before he needs to be, etc.

 

Then again he does have a lot of those "unteachables" and he is still young. At the same time he's well into arbitration and whether he figures it out or not you're still going to be looking at a tough financial decision especially with Borass as the agent (if Tank hits 40 there's no way he doesn't hit FA). But even with that, if the Sox keep him and he's either in a platoon role (especially one that minimizes time in the field) and/or "gets it" and goes off, he can still help the team in the short term on the field and maybe in the long term via midseason trade. There are reasons to keep him and reasons to sell. But if you sell you need upside for sure.

 

I didn't see the home run but I caught a couple of his ABs the first game. The one he got a great pitch to hit, hit the ball hery hard, but caught it toward the end of the bat, not on the barrel, and flew out. It seems like we see that a lot out of him. Then the other PA I can remember, IIRC it was bases loaded nobody out, the guy on the mound was Tonkin I think, fastball-slider with control issues i.e. WTF should you be looking for, fastball only right? And he did look fastball but first pitch he tried to swing for the fences on a fastball that ran inside on him. Then he goes after a pitch away, fouls it off, then IIRC goes down on a slider out of the zone. He really had 2 pitches in that sequence which really weren't great pitches to hit but other players could have gotten the bat on and hit a sac fly on at least. Instead he K's and drives in no one.

 

With Tank I again think of a fighter with huge power who is just get getting picked apart because he's swinging for the fences and not trying to just land something. The corner keeps telling him "just touch him" over and over, and I think the same about Tank. He has the bat speed to catch up to the fastball if he waits a bit and lets the ball deeper, really he has the bat speed to buy him a margin of error most guys don't have. And he has enough power to go yard any direction in any ballpark. So why not just focus on seeing the ball more and "touching" the ball with the bat? He loads up too much.

 

So in all I think he probably just doesn't have that natural ability to barrel it up as often as those elite MLBers do, and on top of it he's often overaggressive and takes the wrong approach to the situation. I guess the HR last night which I didn't see was the result of a great approach and fouling off a lot of pitches. And that's the problem with Tank because he will tantalize you & you can see him really putting up some numbers if everything goes right. But it's just tough to keep dreaming on anyone, especially defensively limited players who are arb-eligible with Borass as their agents. So maybe you keep him for next year and give it another shot or maybe you trade him, but if you trade him then you better get upside in return or else there is no point. I think Hahn can do either and each option would be easily justifiable.

[Jake]

I'd love for Tank to get all the chances in the world - I still believe he has some special abilities - but this is a numbers game and the odds are now stacked against him. At this point, the best he could hope for in terms of a role on the team to begin next season is the replacement for Paulie. Unfortunately for him, most teams aren't looking for a Paulie - a no defense, no speed, right-handed bopper that doesn't start because there is already a 1B and DH better than him on the team (let's hope there's a better DH).

[LDF]

 

a great rpt.

 

I am not a stat guy but I am going to learn this offseason. be that as it may, I was looking up

the splits for each month on DV performance. let me start with I read where some where talking

about how the trend of hitters per batting avg has lowered. yesterday the rumor page was talking

about cle SS and how a avg of 260 is respectable. well using that, DV is what a 230-240 range.

 

so in essence he is a little below avg, I think our disappointment is, we as fans, esp me, expected more.

I think he may be a good stopgap, until the sox really address it next yr. there is a lot of missing parts

that needs to be address with the sox. offensively he will be able to hit 20+ hrs during the course of a

season.

 

well I thing he has perfect defense for a DH and his monthly offensive stats were very similar each month.

there is one thing that will always come up, he is what 25 going on 26, so he is still considered young.

[Jose Abreu]

Sealed for freshness!

[Balta1701]

That is some lovely granite.