Royals Trade Teahen To White Sox

Written by: Jeff Parker on 6th November 2009

Royals Trade Teahen To White Sox | read this item

Well I guess it’s official, Mark Teahen is no longer a Royal. DM sent Teahen to the White Sox in exchange for Josh Fields and Chris Getz. At first glance it appears he acquired younger, cheaper versions of Jacobs and Bloomquist – it seems that way at second glance too.

Fields career – .229/.302/.416/84 OPS+
Jacobs 2009 – .228/.297/.401/84 OPS+

Getz career – .262/.323/.346/73 OPS+
Bloomquist – .263/.318/.332/75 OPS+

Pretty freaking eerie, right? Did I mention that both Fields and Getz are below average defensively? They are. So what’s this trade about then? Saving money, replacing Callaspo, or replacing Gordon? My opinion (take it for what’s worth, I’m wrong a lot) is that this paves the way for a Gordon trade and Callaspo/Fields take over the 3B/DH spots. Which I guess would mean that Jacobs is on his way out too but with Moore you never know.

I think centerfield/rightfield/catcher/bullpen were greater needs than 2B and 3B so this trade screams the word odd. But these two players do appeal to Moore’s philosophy of low OBP and sub-par defense. He certainly has a type.

In other words, here we go again.

So at first glance you would suspect that I didn’t care for the trade and you would be right but probably not for the reasons you may think. I am not overrating Teahen, he is what he is. A useful player that you can put just about anywhere who won’t hurt you offensively or defensively. He doesn’t help you much either though which is why I’m not upset he was traded.

And it’s not really Fields or Getz that has me annoyed, no as usual it’s Dayton Moore. Again 2B and 3B were not pressing needs like say catcher or centerfield. Fields and Getz have both shown flashes of potential that may or may not come out in KC and they come cheaper than Teahen so maybe Moore is hoping to shed payroll so he can wade into the free agent pool. Whatever the reason it’s just an odd trade. I get that a lot of people like it and that’s fine. The 2009 Royals were a disaster so roster turnover is to be expected.

To help understand what KC is getting I turned to faithful (and somewhat cynical) White Sox blogger Andrew Reilly of the 35th Street Review. (I offered him my thoughts on Teahen which you can read here.)

I suspect, Royals fans, that you want to know exactly what the Chicago White Sox just sent you in the mail. Who are Josh Fields and Chris Getz? What have they done? What will they do for their new team?

First the good news: Chris Getz. Make no mistake, Getz may a terrible player someday and we saw last year what happened when the American League finally compiled the book on him. Witness his fantastic April (.340 average, .396 OBP), followed by a miserable May and June (.200/.263, .247/.301). But Getz also rebounded nicely, finishing the year as the Sox’ second-best rookie and being the least painful bottom-of-the-order bat in recent South Side history. His defense, while not fantastic, will serve you well and won’t (read: can’t) make the Royals any worse. You will not curse him, but at the same time you will probably never revere him, either. Knowing what I know about Kansas City baseball, this will probably be a nice change of pace.

On the other hand, I promise you will very quickly grow to hate Josh Fields. Not because Fields is a bad person (which he isn’t), nor because he’s a bad baseball player (which he is), but because for a long time Fields has had all the trappings of becoming a potentially great baseball player. Savage power at the plate coupled with respectable skills at the hot corner should spell stardom, but in Fields’ case that power has been handcuffed to an alarming number of strikeouts in a very short amount in time. In 2007, he gave us fans 23 homers in 100 games, with 125 whiffs to match; in 2009, he struck out (76) almost as often as he played (79). When he connects, Fields can deliver some awesome feats of hitting, but the only problem with that is that Fields, simply put, never connects. You will want very badly to see this man live up to his promise, and he will never deliver on it.

Ever.

Thanks for the third baseman, though. Between the weak-hitting second baseman the Sox had last year and the terrifying third base prospect waiting in Charlotte for the call back to the bigs, the future was starting to look ugly.

Topics: 2b, 3b, bullpen, Disaster, First Glance, Free Agent Pool, Free Pool, Getz, Guess, Jacobs, Mark Teahen, Obp, Odd, Ops, Payroll, Philosophy, Reason, Saving Money, Second Glance, Shed, White Sox

Barney Rubble says:

November 7, 2009 at 1:01 am

You realize that as of mid-September Getz was hitting in the .270′s and was doing so with a sports hernia? You do know that, don’t you?
Jeff Parker says:

November 7, 2009 at 6:16 pm

I am aware of the sports hernia but it really doesn’t change my opinion of him or the trade. He is not even close to being Alberto Callaspo’s peer with the bat and he is only slightly better with the glove.

I’ll withold further judgement until I see where the dominoes fall. This move can only begat more moves.