I held off on commenting on the long-rumored Omar Vizquel signing for two reasons; one, it's pretty tough to get excited about the signing of a back-up shortstop, even if he happens to be one of the best defenders in the history of the game; and two, I wasn't going to waste the energy on a deal that wasn't official. Well now the deal is official.
It seems the only hangup was getting Omar hooked up with some Sox gear, rounding up Luis Aparicio, and putting together a press conference focusing on the White Sox Venezuelan tradition.
So what's left to say? The Sox picked up a veteran who took to the role of part-time backup and full-time mentor to Elvis Andrus, and he'll presumably fall into that same role here with a pair of green middle infielders in Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham. Though Ozzie Guillen is never content to let our assumptions go uncontradicted, saying that Vizquel isn't here as a coach and will get lots of time thanks to Alexei's annual pre-Memorial Day siesta at the plate.
"I don't want him to be a coach,'' manager Ozzie Guillen said of the signing. "That's the last thing I want. Omar is so professional handling something he had to do for the first time in his life. I think the job he did with the kids in Texas [last season] was outstanding.
"His presence with the team is very important. He's a guy that knows how to play the game, he's a Hall of Famer. The kids can take advantage, especially Gordon [Beckham] and [Alexei] Ramirez. We will try and find him a lot of playing time, especially early in the year because everyone knows Ramirez struggles early either because of the weather or over-training."