There are some horrifying rumors floating around that White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams is looking to sign Omar Vizquel to a one-year contract with the club, and I’m thinking if this is a runaway train-type Internet rumor or a another Williams smokescreen?

I don’t think its a BS rumor, as both newspapers in town are reporting it as fact, and one paper quoted Skipper Ozzie Guillen as saying he’s personally talked to Vizquel about the possibility. Newspaper reporters here in Chicago are pretty good at spying a garbage rumor and ignoring it.

Vizquel played 62 games last year for the Rangers, so it’s obvious to me the Sox would sign him to make their bench deeper. He can play three infield positions, and with Alexei Ramirez, Gordon Beckham and Mark Teahen with seemingly secure jobs for 2010, it’s the only explanation.

So why clog up a roster spot with a 43-year-old veteran instead of trying out some of your younger talent? What does this say about some of the younger talent like Tyler Flowers or Jordan Danks or Dayan Viciedo? What is Jayson Nix’s future with the White Sox? Does Nix hold any value as trade bait if they make this signing?

Vizquel’s accomplishments as a Major Leaguer are well known, and quite impressive. The Sox would be signing an 11-time Gold Glove shortstop and a three-time All-Star. He could be a valuable mentor to Ramirez and Beckham, and he is known as a stabilizing clubhouse presence.

If the Sox are looking for a mentor, wouldn’t he serve the team better as a coach? Isn’t there someone on the coaching staff who could be a mentor to those two just as effectively without taking up a roster spot?

Let me think. What coach on the White Sox staff played a mean middle infield position, was a stabilizing clubhouse presence and knows how to win ball games? There must be somebody.

Oh wait! There is. Ozzie fricking Guillen!

Now maybe it’s not cool for a manager to be a mentor, as it might offend the fragile egos of some other players. But I’ll bet Guillen could be a mentor like that crazy Kung Fu geezer from Kill Bill who kicks your ass every time he sees you, just to take you down a peg and let you know who, exactly, the master is.

Looking from the outside of the relationship you might think to yourself, “Man, is he hard on them,” but if you’re in it, you’d know the mentor deeply loves his apprentices.

This just seems like an odd signing by a team that has emitted a yearning to get “younger and more athletic.” My fear is that the “younger and more athletic” mantra really means “getting guys for less money.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under AL, AL-Central, Baseball, Chicago White Sox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.