The Big Donkey appears, at least for now, to be banished to the barn.
After months of speculation, the White Sox finally called up top prospect Dayan Viciedo over the weekend. Viciedo had been setting Triple-A on fire, hitting .296 with 20 HR and 78 RBI in 119 games for the Charlotte Knights. Those kinds of numbers had fans clamoring for the team to do the right thing and call him up, especially given Dunn’s lackluster line of .163, 11 HR, 156 SO and perhaps most glaringly, a -2.4 WAR.
After Viciedo’s stellar debut, in which he went 2-for-3 with a home run, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored, the Chicago Sun-Times is speculating that Adam Dunn could be heading to the bench to make room for Viciedo’s hot bat.
Quite frankly, it’s about dang time.
Dunn is one of the worst free agent signings in recent memory. That much goes without saying given his performance at the bat and in the field this season. He’s been so bad that the Washington Nationals – among other teams – owe Kenny Williams a fruit basket at the very least for Dunn signing on the South side instead of with their organization. At the time, it appeared to be a prudent maneuver — after all, Dunn had posted stellar numbers over the past few seasons — but since then has turned out to be a disaster on par with the Cubs decision to sign the one and only Mel Rojas to a big contract in the late 90s.
One has to wonder if Viciedo’s callup is too little too late for the Pale Hose.
While Viciedo’s bat could have made a huge difference a month ago when the team was still in the running for the Al Central crown, right about now the point seems moot. At 66-65, the Sox find themselves six games out of first place with just over a month to play. Dunn – and to be fair, Alex Rios, the team’s other overpriced offseason signing – has been holding the team’s offense back with his lackluster plate appearances, which more often than not wind up with his creating natural electricity (like a windmill, get it?) than creating runs.
That being said, it’s hard to fault manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Kenny Williams for sticking with Dunn early on. The team has a huge chunk of owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s money invested in him which means they owe it at least to ownership to give the guy as many chances as they possibly can for him to succeed. Dunn has shown time and again that – for whatever reason – he’s not up to the challenge this season.
Now, fairly or not, the onus lies on Viciedo to help salvage the White Sox season. He’s got huge shoes to fill at first (his natural position) if you’re counting Konerko as the man he’s following. But if his minor league stats are any indication, Viciedo is like a fine wine — in this case, worth the wait.
