No Thome, no Kubel and no offensive help

The White Sox didn't claim Jim Thome, although they did claim Jason Kubel -- who likely won't go anywhere.

The best option for offensive help still remains in Triple-A, but hopefully, not for long. Given Kubel is a longshot to leave the Twin cities and that Carlos Quentin won't play this weekend in Seattle, now would seem like an opportune time to call up Dayan Viciedo -- although there seemingly have been about 50 opportune times to call up Viciedo already that haven't amounted to anything.

If anything, the Sox claimed Kubel to keep him away from Cleveland -- but then again, if they did that, they also would've claimed Thome to similarly keep him away from a second stint in the Cleve.

Contrary to a few rumors that have sprung up, the Sox are not going to trade Gavin Floyd in the waiver window -- people always seem to forget how team-friendly his contract is in light of other deals being handed out to starters -- so just because the Sox won't add a bat in the waiver wire window (from another team, anyway) doesn't mean they'll go into full fire sale mode before the end of August.

Afternoon update: Since the start of July, Viciedo has walked more than he's struck out. That's astounding.

While his hand injury has sapped him of the great offensive production he put up earlier in the season, he's come around recently, posting a seven-game hitting streak as, apparently, the effects of the injury have gone away. In late July/early August, the Sox had a legitimate case for not calling him up -- he didn't have an extra-base hit from July 8 - Aug. 11, although he missed about a week in late July.

But given that he's back on track in Charlotte, there's really no reason for him to not be called up. It would be easy to retroactively place Quentin on the disabled list going back to Saturday, Aug. 20, and pull him off Sept. 4, a few days after rosters expand. 

At this point, the Sox need all the help they can get to catch Detroit. They've needed all the help they can get all season, and they've let Viciedo stay in the minors, though, so color me skeptical as to whether the Sox will finally call up a guy who should've been in the majors a long time ago.

Comments

[Steve from Rockford]

I would love for the Sox to work something out with Kubel and sign him for a year or two. He would kill the ball in the cell. Not happening though.

[don merkle]

Kenny said false report Sox did not claim Kubel..some scribes are dreamers

[Les Rock]

"...although they did claim Jason Kubel"

Oh really?

Nice "reporting", Scoop.

[JJ -- White Sox Beerleaguer]

The news on Kubel being claimed by Cleveland came out after this was posted...and I'm not a White Sox reporter, for the record.