Dayan Viciedo's non-contract year

Thanks to a blogger meet-up at U.S. Cellular Field back in 2009, we have literally known for years that even though Dayan Viciedo signed a four-year major-league contract, the White Sox have him under team control for six years. He has 123 days of service time, so assuming he doesn't reach Super Two status -- and the Sox are in pretty good shape -- he will be eligible for arbitration in 2015.

If you needed further confirmation, Scot Gregor had an anonymous source tell him the same thing in attempt to teach us something during our wackadoo back-and-forth over service time. I don't know why that needed an anonymous source. We identified ours as Rick Hahn.

Still, some people are fuzzy on the details. From Dave Van Dyck's story:

In some ways, this is a make-or-break season for Viciedo, who turns 23 in March. He is in the final year of the original four-year, $10 million deal he signed after leaving Cuba.

If he produces, he gets a big-time contract; if he struggles, his career will be in jeopardy and the Sox may decide that Cespedes or Soler is the future, if either signs with them.

"I don't put any pressure on myself like that," he said. "As for this being a contract year, I try not to think about that. If I start thinking about it, then you put too much pressure on yourself to be loose and do what you've been doing for so long."

Scott Merkin and Doug Padilla are clear on the details, so that's good. Remember: Friends don't let friends assume this is Dayan Viciedo's contract year.

During the conference call, Viciedo also said he made a recruitment effort with fellow Cuban defectors Yoennis Cespedes and Jorge Soler:

"There were no phone numbers given to me or anything coming from the organization," Viciedo said through manager of cultural development Jackson Miranda during a Tuesday afternoon conference call. "It's me reaching out to my fellow Cubans and wishing the best for them.

"They aren't signed yet, and I can't tell them which way to go. I can give them advice because it's a familiar situation for me. And I can tell them how much I would enjoy having them on this team and how good this organization really is. It would be a great fit if they came over and joined us."

Kevin Goldstein thinks the Sox are not in the money at the moment, identifying the Cubs and Marlins as the key contenders, and the Phillies third.

And on the subject of international signings, Mark Gonzales wrote the most in-depth piece on Marco Paddy to date for Baseball America.

It's behind a paywall, but it's a solid summary of their previous problems in the Caribbean, including their problem in getting respect from buscones, which Doug Laumann had mentioned. Kenny Williams echoed Laumann's earlier sentiments that it was going to be less about money and more about scouting in the future.

As for Paddy...

*He's known for his aggressiveness, and spoke of going after the best players in the market that "money can buy."

*He doesn't intend to clean house with the Latin American scouting department, but they do need to establish credibility as spenders in order to get respect from handlers.

This new CBA is so awesome.