Should the A’s Go After Dayan Viciedo?
By Jason Burke
According to MLB Trade Rumors, it appears that Dayan Viciedo is on his way out of Chicago, after the team requested unconditional release waivers for the 25-year old outfielder. Viciedo, in three full seasons, and parts of two more, has amassed 66 career home runs which could be the major draw for an Oakland lineup that is lacking power. It’s his career .254 batting average (.231 last season) and .298 on-base percentage that go along with his $4.4M salary for 2015 that is likely giving teams pause. Oh, and his defense. He’s not very good at that either, tallying a -1.9 dWAR last season, and a -4.3 over his career.
While I’m not completely sold on the idea of adding Dayan Viciedo, I will provide an argument for the A’s doing so. Their current options, with Ben Zobrist playing in the infield, include Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld as their main left field options. Of the two, Gentry provides more both at the plate and in the field defensively, so this becomes a Viciedo or Fuld question. I may be the only fan that is not sold on Fuld, so this move would make sense to me.
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Viciedo’s defense should not go unnoticed, so let’s address that. I would assume that not having to track as many fly balls would be helpful to improving his dWAR. In 2014, both the White Sox and A’s produced ground ball/fly ball ratios of 1.50, so no help there. However, the A’s roster has been in flux, so lets look at a projected rotation and see how that works.
Sonny Gray: 1.64
Scott Kazmir: 1.18
Jesse Hahn: 1.83
Drew Pomeranz: 1.27
Kendall Graveman: 9.00
Ok Graveman won’t be able to maintain that mark, but of the 14 big league outs he’s recorded, nine were on the ground, four were line drives and one was a fly ball. These ratios provide some insight into how Graveman gets his outs, and also some hope for Dayan Viciedo defensively.
He is still young, and is starting to fit he role of the “cast off” that Oakland loves to feature. Something about the water in the East Bay transforms players, and if the A’s take a chance on Viciedo he could be the power in the middle of the lineup that is lacking at present. If it were between this slugger and Sam Fuld, I’d have to say sorry to Super Sam.