In which Scot Gregor fires back at SSS and I respond to his questions on Viciedo

Scot Gregor replies (in reference to this post):

To the blog guy who is basking in the attention I gave him with today's Dayan Viciedo story ... http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110625/sports/706259864/ ...here are a few questions:
*Do you also believe the White Sox intentionally have kept Viciedo in the minors the past three seasons because they didn't want him to become arbitration eligible, which would have cost the Sox an extra $1 million on his 2012 contract?
*Do you really believe after spending over $125 million on payroll this year, the White Sox would keep Viciedo down at Class AAA Charlotte this long so he won't be eligible for free agency until 2017 instead of 2016?
*Yes, I had to use a source on the Viciedo story, which I rarely if ever do, but isn't that how you came up with your Viciedo angle? Or was it just speculation on your part?
*Continuing, when was the last time you were at the Cell, or anywhere?
*Finally, do you think Ozzie has suddenly decided to lie? He is the manager of the team and he's been pretty adamant about protecting the one guy, Juan Pierre, who Viciedo would have to replace.
If it were up to me, which it isn't, I would have cut ties with Pierre by now and had Viciedo in the lineup.
Ozzie manages the team and he doesn't want Viciedo yet. Or, general manager Kenny Williams hasn't yet been able to come up with a move to clear a spot for Viciedo.
Let me stress this again, to suggest the White Sox would purposely keep Viciedo in the minors due to a contract issue immediately tells me you don't know how this team does business.
The Sox aren’t the Pirates or the Marlins or the Royals.

1. I don't think the White Sox kept him in the minors the past three seasons to prevent that contract clause from coming into play.  I think they kept him there in 2009 because he was pretty bad for Birmingham - .280/.317/.398 - and certainly didn't deserve a place on a major league roster.  That also meant he didn't deserve to be on the 2010 opening day roster, either, and he didn't exactly make anyone think that decision was wrong with the way he started for Charlotte.

2. Yes. That pretty much was the point of the two posts.

3. My source was myself.  As for it being "speculation", I guess that's one word to describe it.  Service time games such as this are a logical decision frequently made by clubs, including the White Sox.  While I don't have any particular source on this, it's reasonable to assume that at least part of the reason for waiting until June 4, 2009 to call up Gordon Beckham was due to the fact that he would not be a Super Two.  By the way, I didn't really mind that you used a source.  I just think you were getting played by that source.  The White Sox using an unnamed source to "debunk" the logic is at least better than the ridiculous statements Brian Sabean made on the record about his reasons for keeping Buster Posey in the minors.

4. Getting kind of personal there, Scot. Ad hominems don't make arguments better.

5. I think Ozzie Guillen (and Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn and any number of other White Sox coaching staff and front office personnel) "lies" all the time.  Ozzie in particular does it when he wants to protect his players, something he does a very good job at.  Even if what we've posited here at SSS is correct, I would never expect Ozzie or Kenny or Rick (on the record or off it) to come out and say, "Yes, we're keeping Dayan Viciedo in the minors because of service time concerns.  Once that concern has passed, we intend to call him up to be our starting left fielder because Juan Pierre is playing terribly, both offensively and defensively, and we believe Viciedo is the better player."

I never suggested the White Sox were the Pirates, Marlins or Royals. In fact, the comparison I used - specifically to preempt that retort - was a team, the San Francisco Giants, who is financially and competitively similar to the White Sox, who played service time games during a season in which they had a significant payroll and were competitive.

As mentioned previously, we'll know soon enough whether we're idiots here at SSS.  I don't doubt that part of the thought process over the past couple months has been that the White Sox invested a not insignificant sum of money in Pierre and they were giving him ample time to snap out of it.  That certainly fits with my impression of how the White Sox "do business".  But when mid June rolls around and Pierre is still performing poorly, I rather doubt the front office hasn't considered whether it's time to make a move.  And it certainly would be logical for them to also consider whether they could maybe wait a couple more weeks in order to ensure that they have Viciedo locked up for another of his prime seasons.  I'd say it would be negligent if they weren't aware of the date and didn't consider it.