It’s easy to see that White Sox GM Kenny Williams and the rest of the front office has cast aside it “youth movement” that it touted during last year’s offseason, as the team signed Omar Vizquel and Andruw Jones last week.

These acquisitions, combined with the Mark Kotsay signing, clearly show the Sox brass has switched its philosophy this year when considering how to build the team’s bench for the next campaign. Instead of trying out youngsters in the farm system, the Sox have added guys who have many miles on their legs and plenty of experience under their belts.

Earlier I wrote how displeased and puzzled I was about the Vizquel rumors, but now I see how it fits this new philosophy. Instead of bringing up young guys you don’t have to pay, you sign old guys you don’t have to pay.

There is one big difference, however, when bringing on veterans to fill your bench - they’ve been there, done that and know how to do it again.

As much fun as it is watching young players come up to the big leagues, go through their growing pains and blossom as professional ballplayers, there is something to be said about experience.

There is also another commonality between these three vets the Sox have acquired - they are very versatile. Jones is guy who can play both corners of the outfield, and might still have enough get-up-and-go to patrol center on occasion. Vizquel can play both middle infield spots and third base. Kotsay is the obvious choice for back-up first baseman and can play corner outfield positions. Kotsay might even spell as a DH every now and then if he’s on a hot streak.

These moves might also help some of the farm system guys in the long run. All three were signed to one-year contracts, giving the young guys an opportunity to play minor league ball every night. If they made the big leagues, they certainly would have the reps or plate appearances to really improve on a nightly basis.

These three signings aren’t going to set the White Sox on fire in 2010, but they do give the White Sox a flexible, strong, powerful and experienced bench, which isn’t a terrible thing.

There are still plenty of holes to fill on this roster, and I’m sure Kenny Williams isn’t through yet.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm and is filed under AL, AL-Central, All Sports, 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.