The Sox placed Viciedo on the DL this morning with an oblique strain. You’re not going to believe this, but he hurt it while (over)swinging at a pitch on Thursday.
Blake Tekotte was called up to replace Viciedo on the 25-man. I don’t know much about Tekotte as the Sox got him over the winter from San Diego, but Keith Law sees him as a 4th outfielder and seems to like him. Sickles said the same thing last year when he was in a loaded Padres system, but didn’t even crack the top-20 of an unloaded Sox system this year. Tekotte hasn’t done much in two very short cups of coffee in San Diego but he does appear to have a little speed and I read rumors of a decent glove.
Viciedo started hitting the ball a bit last week, but he’s been bad so far this year. This isn’t that surprising as Viciedo was probably the worst left fielder in the majors last year, and things haven’t changed much this year. No walk, no glove, can’t hit righties who play left field are not only easy to replace, they’re totally expendable. Viciedo is expendable save for the 5 or 6 at bats he gets each week against a lefty.
I’m guessing that Tekotte and Danks will split the at bats, however they’re both lefties so I’m not sure how Robin will manage that. Danks is starting today for what it's worth.
This isn’t that big of a loss for the Sox, you could even say it’s a gain if Danks and Tekotte hunt down every fly ball hit to left. But Danks can’t hit and Tekotte is unproven in the majors. Neither guy has Viciedo’s power, but the Sox aren’t reliant on Dylan’s power either. I can’t see this costing the Sox much of anything as both Danks and Tekotte probably save the two runs in the outfield that Viciedo would have created with his bat.
If you’re going to have injuries, make sure they’re your not very good players so you can easily replace them. So far, so good for the Sox on that note.
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