Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
After hinting at it for months, Ozzie Guillen finally did the inscrutable, starting 43 year old shortstop Omar Vizquel at designated hitter Friday night against Kansas City. Not surprisingly, it was Vizquel's first start at designated hitter, despite playing in his 18th season with an American League team.
Why would you ever use an all-glove player like Vizquel at DH?
The short answer is that Carlos Quentin was sick and Andruw Jones was sore, though that really only partially explains why it happened on Friday. (Why not give Ramirez a partial night off with a start at DH and let Omar play shorts?) White Sox fans have been worried about Ozzie Guillen doing something like this since at least February, when the Sox manager began talking about using Vizquel as a DH against left-handed pitching. Amazingly, Vizquel at DH appears to be something that has been in the works for quite awhile.
Chicago's designated hitters, as a group, have given the White Sox very little in 2010, hitting a collective .193/.273/.296 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with just three home runs. The roster, in general, is a mess with Ozzie Guillen's signature all over it. It's one thing if Carlos Quentin (9 starts at DH) and Andruw Jones (7 starts) have been bad as DHs, but that's only part of the problem. The Sox have been playing a version of the Vizquel game all season. Defense-first players such as Mark Kotsay (7 starts) and Juan Pierre (6 starts) have seen ample time at DH as well.
If Kotsay and Pierre make sense as DHs, then honestly so does Vizquel. It's important to keep all of your non-hitting DH options fresh.
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