FanHouse DayanViciedo

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team who loves to mash the ball. The 2008 White Sox led Major League Baseball in home runs with 235. Even though the team lost Nick Swisher, there are still six hitters in this lineup with 25-plus home run potential; three that could easily amass 30-plus. The infield is all shook up headed into the new season. Only Paul Konerko is back in his position from 2008 at first base. Josh Fields will be given the reigns at third base to see if he can finally live up to his potential. Alexei Ramirez will be shifting from second base to shortstop to fill the spot vacated by Orlando Cabrera. The pitching staff lost Javier Vazquez to Atlanta but still has three credible front-line starters. Gavin Floyd and John Danks exploded onto the scene in '08 and Mark Buehrle is as consistent as they come. The White Sox won their division in 2008 and still have the talent to compete again in 2009.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Chicago White Sox.

The expectations for the Chicago White Sox weren't very high in 2008. The team was coming off of a dismal 72-90 performance in 2007, following up two consecutive 90-win seasons and they'd lost perhaps their most consistent starter in Jon Garland in a trade for Orlando Cabrera. They also acquired Nick Swisher from the Oakland Athletics, hoping he would be the glue that held the team together.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Chicago White Sox
The buzz around White Sox camp is position battles. Up for grabs is the third base position, center field and second base. Josh Fields and Dayan Viciedo are fighting for third and Fields has the leg up. Both hitters can mash the ball and both play suspect defense; although Fields is improving. Fields worked extensively this off-season at Camp Cora and Cora mentioned that everyone would be shocked with what they see out of Fields this year. He has three hits in six at-bats with two doubles so far this spring. Jayson Nix and his four hits in six at-bats with two doubles seem to be taking over as front-runner for the second base job thought to belong to Chris Getz. DeWayne Wise is being called the "best player this spring" and may be taking the center field job from injured Jerry Owens.

The White Sox caught lightning in a bottle with "The Cuban Missile," Alexei Ramirez last season. The 27 year-old Cuban import finished second in the American League rookie of the year race in 2008, so the White Sox are trying to strike gold again for 2009.

Kenny Williams has reported inked Dayan Viciedo to a contract worth a total of $11 million. He's only 19 years old, but was an All-Star in Cuba when he was only 16. According to the report, there is some debate on whether or not Viciedo is currently major league-ready. There is no debating the prodigious power of the young Cuban.

For the White Sox, spending this type of dough on a young third baseman is a sign they aren't fully convinced that Josh Fields is the future. He took a huge step backwards in 2008 after hitting 23 home runs with the big club in the previous season. Since he's still only going to be 26, I'll guess the Sox enter the season with him as the starter in the hot corner, while Vicideo adapts to the United States in the minors. Should Fields falter, the Sox would then have the option to make the change during the season or wait until next season.

Either way, the potential of Viciedo, if scouting reports are accurate, is enough to make White Sox fans love this acquisition.

Last winter Kenny Williams and the Chicago White Sox signed a relatively unknown -- in the States, anyway -- infielder from Cuba named Alexei Ramirez. While most White Sox fans had absolutely no knowledge of the skinny import, Kenny insisted that the kid was the real deal and that he'd play in Chicago for years to come. Kenny knew what he was talking about, as Alexei hit .290 with 21 homers and 77 RBI in his first season in the Majors, and it looks like the Sox have a superstar on their hands.

Now what Kenny Williams wants to know is if he can strike gold in Cuba again. In June we told you about Cuban third baseman Dayan Viciedo after he defected from Cuba to America. Viciedo is the considered the best player the Cubans have had in a very long time, and MLB just gave teams permission to start talking to him. Though they may be wasting their time, because even Viciedo's agent says the White Sox have the inside track.

''[The Sox] have shown a lot of interest,'' [Viciedo's agent Jaime] Torres said. ''It seems they have done a lot of research. To be honest, they do have an edge having Alexei and Jose. If I were to tell you they didn't, I would be lying. They are an organization that got Alexei and are very happy. Chicago is a very attractive place.''

Torres is also the agent of Ramirez and Jose Contreras.

Bringing in Viciedo would make sense for the White Sox because they're moving on from the Joe Crede era at third base, and though Josh Fields is expected to take over in 2009, having competition around is never a bad thing. It seems far fetched that Viciedo would be ready to contribute this season for anybody, not just the White Sox, but the Sox felt that way about Ramirez as well.

He's only 19, but he did hit .337 with 14 homers for the Cuban National team at the age of 16, so maybe it isn't that crazy.

Baseball just held it's amateur draft last week, and teams all around the league now have their newest prospects to over-hype before trading them away and watching them become nothing in other cities. It's a wonderful tradition in the sport of baseball, right up there doubleheaders and bench-clearing brawls.

Of course, another one of baseball's oldest most grand traditions is players escaping from Cuba and coming to America in hopes of achieving their dreams of becoming Major League Baseball players. You're newest Cuban import is 19-year old Dayan Viciedo, who just recently came to the United States and is already growing buzz worthy.

Viciedo left Cuba on a boat bound for Mexico on May 20, accompanied by his family. Several days later he crossed the border from Mexico and traveled to Miami to reunite with friends and relatives.

''Most Cuban ball players dream of playing in the major leagues,'' he said. ``This is an aspiration that comes with risks, but I was willing to take them in order to try out. Inside, you have the desire to know if you have a place among the best in the world, if you belong to the elite.''

It's been a while since we've had a feeding frenzy in baseball over a Cuban defector but we may get one pretty soon.Dayan Viciedo is in Miami after leaving the island in late-May. He ended up in Mexico and made his way to the U.S. and hopes to sign with a team soon.

Just 19, Viciedo was a provisional member of Cuba's team at the World Baseball Classic and, at 16, was the youngest All-Star in the history of Cuban baseball. Some scouts have compared him to Cuba's legendary third baseman Omar Linares while others are less bullish. Either way, his youth and accomplishments would surely make teams line up for a chance to develop him as a ballplayer.

Except, he might not be a free agent. Because Viciedo came to the U.S., Baseball America reports, he may have to enter the pros via the draft.

Had Viciedo gone to Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic or some other nation not subject to the draft, he clearly would become a free agent. Now that he's in the U.S., he's subject to draft rules.

His agent argues that Viciedo was in the U.S. before the draft and wasn't selected and, therefore, he's a free agent. MLB sends out a list of draft eligible players, however, and his name wasn't on it nor was he announced as a Cuban defector eligible to be signed as a free agent. A summer in an independent league before selection in the 2009 draft would probably be Viciedo's fate if that's true.