Viciedo loafing draws the attention of KW

[whitesoxfan101]

I was gonna not say anything regarding that (usually it seems more younger players get called out, than the vets who do it.. I.E. A.J., Dye when he was here, Castro, etc.. etc.. [Konerko is just naturally slow]) but you just had to make a post like this.

 

Every spring, they yell at some kid for not hustling, Kenny and Ozzie make a big deal out of it to make it look like they care (they really don't, watch the veterans during the season), Cowley/Gonzales/whoever writes some fluff piece on it, and some people pretend to care while others laugh. Same s***, different spring.

Edited March 9, 2010 by whitesoxfan101

[greg775]

Every spring, they yell at some kid for not hustling, Kenny and Ozzie make a big deal out of it to make it look like they care (they really don't, watch the veterans during the season), Cowley/Gonzales/whoever writes some fluff piece on it, and some people pretend to care while others laugh. Same s***, different spring.

 

Great post. Good observation.

[Leonard Zelig]

Every spring, they yell at some kid for not hustling, Kenny and Ozzie make a big deal out of it to make it look like they care (they really don't, watch the veterans during the season), Cowley/Gonzales/whoever writes some fluff piece on it, and some people pretend to care while others laugh. Same s***, different spring.

 

Well, there is a difference between an established veteran and a guy whose never been above AA. Its really not uncommon in any workplace that people who have proven themselves get more slack than those who haven't.

[Steve9347]

You dont get the chance to make this mistake twice with Ozzie and Kenny

...which only further illustrates my love with the Chicago White Sox.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Even though it was a one time minor infraction against the team´s wotk ethic, you gotta hustle for that kind of money. If this kid is a bust this year then there will be serious calls to cut him. And signing Boras after only one year if true is a terrible move on his part because he has proved nothing yet.

 

No there won't.

 

People forget how young he still is.

[scenario]

I could be wrong but, I don't think we control him for 6-years like a typical minor leaguer.

 

We signed him to a major league contract.

 

 

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I could be wrong but, I don't think we control him for 6-years like a typical minor leaguer.

 

We signed him to a major league contract.

 

Someone found it a while back. We control him through his arb years still. I'm positive about it. The fact that he was signed to a major league contract is irrelevant.

[Balta1701]

Someone found it a while back. We control him through his arb years still. I'm positive about it. The fact that he was signed to a major league contract is irrelevant.

This is correct from the mouth of Rick Hahn himself. See Viciedo's AAP page for exact words.

[scenario]

Someone found it a while back. We control him through his arb years still. I'm positive about it. The fact that he was signed to a major league contract is irrelevant.

 

Per Cots...

 

He has a clause in his contract that states "if Viciedo has enough service time to qualify for arbitration after 2011, he may void the 2012 season. If voided, the club may exercise an option at $3.5M."

 

Again... not sure but... doesn't sound like 6 years of control to me.

Edited March 9, 2010 by scenario

[Kalapse]

Per Cots...

 

He has a clause in his contract that states "if Viciedo has enough service time to qualify for arbitration after 2011, he may void the 2012 season. If voided, the club may exercise an option at $3.5M."

 

Again... not sure but... doesn't sound like 6 years of control to me.

Hate to say it but you're wrong. That clause is just in there to protect him from getting screwed in his first year of arbitration if he made the team his first year in America and lit it up, he still would have been under team control for 3 more years but he also would have gotten himself another million dollars. It's a lot like the clause is David Price's contract where he can void his entire deal if he's eligible for arbitration by a certain season, it's a common clause thrown in there to protect players who sign long term deals when they are very young, the Rays are in no risk of losing him before he reaches 6 years of service, same goes for the Sox. (Kendry Morales also has such a clause)

 

He did sign a major league contract but that just means that he's burning options each year he spends in the minors not that he's gone after his contract runs out. He's still gotta earn service time like any other player and he hasn't been doing so. He's under our control for at least another 6 years, that's from Rick Hahn's mouth, it makes sense and I have no reason not to believe him.

 

Viciedo signed a major league contract before even playing a professional game, so did Rick Porcello, Alexei Ramirez, Andrew Miller, Kendry Morales and David Price but none of these 6 players will be free agents when their contracts run out because they don't have a release clause. It has to be included in your contract that if you don't have a new deal in place 2 months after your original deal runs out you must be released by the club, Viciedo and Ramirez's deals do not contain such a clause. (they were considered closer to prospects than proven major leaguers so there was no way a team would go along with such a clause unlike the contract of most Japanese ball players.)

 

We control Alexei for 2 extra years beyond the length of his deal and the same goes for Viciedo.

[scenario]

I don't mind being wrong.

And in this case, I actually prefer it.

 

I think it was the language about voiding the 2012 season and the club option that threw me.

Sounds like free agent language.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2010 by scenario

[Kalapse]

I don't mind being wrong.

And in this case, I actually prefer it.

 

I think it was the language about voiding the 2012 season and the club option that threw me.

Sounds like free agent language.

Yeah, it can be confusing. The key is to look for a clause such as the one in Hideki Matsui's original contract with the Yankees:

 

contract included clause requiring Yankees to sign Matsui to an extension by Nov. 11, 2005, or release him (effectively granting Matsui free agency after 3 years)

 

If that's not in there then he's under team control for the full 6 years of service. Such clauses are typically only given to a 30+ year old Japanese free agents (since they're considered far more proven than your typical Cuban, Thai or Korean free agent) however, they're only given out in very special circumstaces; very good relievers such as Hideki Okajima and Takashi Saito didn't get the release clause (much to Okajima's surprise and chagrin when he found out a few months ago) but Hideki Matsui and Tadahito Iguchi did.

 

If someone like Jose Contreras didn't get a release clause in his original deal (he even got a no trade) then prospects like Ramirez, Viciedo, Morales and Betancourt aren't getting them either (though 3 of them did get arbitration void clauses, I believe Alexei is the only one to not have such language included in his contract).

[BearSox]

Id be a bigger fan of this if this wasnt just a bunch of BS. For the past several years, I've watched plenty of players "loaf" and not receive any repercussions for such actions.

 

Players would hate to play for me, as I would actually require them to hustle on and off the field, run out "routine" plays, and actually play the game how its suppossed to be played.

[ScottyDo]

Id be a bigger fan of this if this wasnt just a bunch of BS. For the past several years, I've watched plenty of players "loaf" and not receive any repercussions for such actions.

 

Players would hate to play for me, as I would actually require them to hustle on and off the field, run out "routine" plays, and actually play the game how its suppossed to be played.

There's a difference between a 10+ year vet like Jones or Thome loafing in ST and a 22 year-old AA player like Viciedo loafing. I don't think it's B.S. that Viciedo would get called out and not the more veteran players. Viciedo needs to keep that ego in check and his work ethic high if he ever wants to sniff the major leagues.

 

I agree that everyone should run out routine plays, I'm just saying that there's a reason behind their selectivity.

[chetkincaid]

You know... one of these days somebody important is going to blow out a knee or suffer some other disasterous injury running as fast as they can on a routine pop up or ground out....

[southsider2k5]

You know... one of these days somebody important is going to blow out a knee or suffer some other disasterous injury running as fast as they can on a routine pop up or ground out....

 

And for that there will be probably 1000 times where someone misses out on a hit after a defensive player bobbles a ball while the hitter wasn't hustling, because I sure haven't seen it happen yet.