Sox treating Viciedo for strained muscle
The White Sox limped back home from Toronto late Thursday night with a 3-7 record on their first road trip of the season.
Undoubtedly looking to get it going back in the right direction at U.S. Cellular Field, the Sox’ Friday night series opener against the Minnesota Twins was postponed due to cold and windy conditions.
Jake Peavy, Friday’s scheduled starter, now pitches Saturday, with Gavin Floyd moving back to Sunday.
The Twins have been dealing with some serious issues this week. Bad weather in Minnesota postponed Sunday’s game against the Mets and Wednesday’s game against the Angels.
Taking a day off after playing 10 straight games at Washington, Cleveland and Toronto might not be such a bad thing for the White Sox.
In Thursday night’s 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, left fielder Dayan Viciedo took a customary big swing in the eighth inning and had to make an immediate exit with a left oblique strain.
Afterward, Viciedo told reporters he doesn’t expect to go on the disabled list.
According to the Sox, Viciedo received treatment on the injury Friday. Even mild oblique strains are difficult to play through, so the White Sox might have to make a difficult choice if Viciedo does land on the DL.
Outfielder Jordan Danks was recalled from Class AAA Charlotte on Wednesday.
Losing Viciedo would likely shift Dewayne Wise into the starting lineup, with Danks filling the reserve role.
If the White Sox wanted another outfielder on the bench, Jared Mitchell and Trayce Thompson are obvious options.
On the flip side, both top prospects are off to slow starts and are not viable candidates for now.
Mitchell, the Sox’ first-round draft pick in 2009, was actually demoted on Friday. After batting .132 (7-for-53) and striking out 27 times, Mitchell was dropped from Charlotte to Class AA Birmingham.
Thompson, 22, was batting .240 with 2 home runs, 6 RBI and 15 strikeouts in 50 at-bats with Birmingham through Thursday’s play.
If Viciedo has to go on the DL, the White Sox could increase the pitching staff from 12 to 13, like they did at the start of the road trip when second baseman Gordon Beckham went down with a fractured left hamate bone.
But given Friday’s weather break and three upcoming scheduled off days, adding another reserve outfielder appears to be the biggest need.
Instead of Mitchell or Thompson, the Sox would likely tab either Luis Durango or Jim Gallagher to replace Viciedo.
Durango is small (5-foot-9, 155 pounds) and fast. He played in 39 games with the Padres and Astros from 2009-11 and stole 46 bases with Class AAA Gwinnett in the Braves’ system last year.
Durango was batting .321 with a .379 on-base percentage and 4 steals through 13 games with Charlotte.
Gallagher, the White Sox’ seventh-round pick in 2007, was hitting .310 with 1 home run and 6 RBI in 8 games with Charlotte.
Courtney Hawkins was the Sox’ top draft choice last year, and he is the organization’s big hope for the future.
The 19-year-old Hawkins had 5 home runs and 12 RBI in his first 12 games with Class A Winston-Salem, but he was batting .163 (7-for-43) with 28 strikeouts.
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