The Dayan Viciedo Bandwagon will be making a pit stop lasting at least three weeks, as an errant fastball fractured his thumb in the day game on Thursday.
That's an unfortunate development for Viciedo. Not only was he 10-for-23 at the time of his injury, but he had just drawn his second walk and made another nice running catch in right field.
In the scheme of things, this is only a minor setback for a number of reasons. The plan was to start him in Charlotte anyway, so he won't be under any pressure to play through pain. Likewise, the flimsiness of spring training numbers make any post-injury statistical comparisons basically worthless.
And while Viciedo grabbed headlines for his play, the outfield competition is sturdy. Mark Teahen is hitting .529/.652/.824, Lastings Milledge has walks (.400 OBP) to go along with singles (.250 average and slugging), and Brent Lillibridge is keeping the strikeouts under control, too. Alejandro De Aza, at .238/.238/.381, is bringing up the rear.
It's unfortunate that Chubby Boy's surprising surge to 25-man roster contention is delayed, but we know from Trayce Thompson's surgery last season that thumb injuries can be worse. Ozzie Guillen has some hope that the recovery time could be shorter than a month, and if surgery were involved, it would be at least twice that time.