:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46526900/usa-today-8447856.0.jpg)
The Oakland Athletics have signed former Chicago White Sox outfielder Dayan Viciedo, according to a tweet by Baseball America's Matt Eddy:
#Athletics sign 26-year-old corner OF Dayan Viciedo, whom #BlueJays released in March. Career .291/.331/.507 in 487 PAs vs. LHPs.
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) June 12, 2015
The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser says Viciedo has signed a minor league deal.
The Chicago White Sox released Viciedo in early February after signing Gordon Beckham. The A's had been rumored to be interested in Viciedo around that time, but he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor league deal. The Blue Jays granted Viciedo his release in late March after he failed to make that team's roster out of spring training.
Viciedo is a career .254/.298/.424 hitter with 66 home runs in 1,798 plate appearances. Against left-handers, he bats .291/.331/.507 (124 wRC+), though he has been below average the last two seasons, with a .221/.272/.407 line in 2014 (89 wRC+) and .257/.297/.413 line in 2013 (81 wRC+).
Why Dayan?
Ironically, the only American League team that needs more help against left-handed pitching than the A's is the Chicago White Sox:
Was just looking up team vs. LHP splits in the American League and oh my goodness the White Sox pic.twitter.com/zL4qgxrAnW
— Jeremy F. Koo (@jfkooAN) June 12, 2015
| 2015 vs. LHP | |||||
| PA | wRC+ | AVG | OBP | SLG | |
| Billy Butler | 57 | 135 | .255 | .386 | .426 |
| Ben Zobrist | 33 | 118 | .276 | .364 | .379 |
| Billy Burns | 51 | 106 | .261 | .333 | .370 |
| Josh Reddick | 57 | 37 | .154 | .228 | .250 |
| Mark Canha | 57 | 13 | .120 | .228 | .140 |
| Sam Fuld | 13 | 5 | .091 | .231 | .091 |
Considering that the left-handed lineup has been a little deficient, a close look at the outfielders and Billy Butler does show a need for some depth that is lacking, especially if anyone else gets injured.
Tyler Ladendorf would be a strong case to join the club if he were not on the disabled list after ankle surgery. Craig Gentry would be the next right-handed batting outfielder up if he didn't forget how to hit a ball at every level of professional baseball, coming from a left-hander or not. After those two, your choices for a right-handed outfield bat in Triple-A Nashville are Matt Carson, Ryan Roberts, or Kent Matthes. Slim pickins.
So Dayan Viciedo is here to quite possibly be the next left-handed outfield bat up in case of an injury to the current squad. It's just too bad he is an incredibly awful outfielder.
