greg775

My gosh, Bolt. If you lived in Kansas City you'd be mocked for your comments on Mark. He is considered kind of a joke around here. Not a good fielder; strikes out a ton. The excuse you could make (which would be an excuse) is he got moved around too much, no good players around him blah blah blah. We can hope, but this is not like we've acquired anybody good. It was basically us trading average to below average talent to the Royals for average to below average talent. Both sides hoping lightning will strike. To Teahen's credit, he is regarded as a guy who plays hard and when hurt and is good with media and teammates.

Don't we need to add somebody like Dunn to excite our fan base? Or will tickets be gobbled up by fans giddy over our strong starting rotation? If we make no real changes, CQ, Paulie, Rios, Teahen and Gordon better be mashing some home runs, 20 minimum for all of them, hoipefully 30 and up for CQ and Paulie.

That was one of the signature plays of our season. It was really bad. Should be interesting to see how KW replaces Pods and Dye. Like somebody said, on paper that's losing a lot of offense. Somebody mentioned Ross Gload recently. I kind of see Teahen more of a Ross Gload than a Gordon Beckham type prospect.

I'd have to agree with everything here. Kind of scary.

It just makes no sense to move Beckham to second for Mark Teahen. The obvious right move would be to keep Beckham at third, where he played very well defensively as the season progressed, and platoon Teahen with Nix at second. I will support Teahen and hope for the best but this makes zero sense to me.

Thanks chw42, I read every word. I can't say your piece encouraged me much, especially your last sentence about the bad defense. Nice writeup though. Good sabermetric analysis.

That was a neat story about Girardi. Makes me feel good that he won a ring.

I guess I hate the deal because I've lived here and basically heard Royals fans bag on the guy since he started to regress. I'd love him as a utility player; love him there. I'm worried at him starting at third nonetheless. Some Baseball Digest comments: Please comment on these. What the Sox get with Teahen is an average left-handed bat who can play third base, second base, or right field—although UZR says he can’t exactly play any of those positions well. Teahen’s walk rate has plummeted in the last two years, falling from 9.2 in 2006 and 2007 to 7.4 and 6.6 in 2008 and 2009. As a result, his OBP fell from the .350 range to the .310-.320 range. On top of that, his contact rate has fell along with his walk rate. His current approach at the plate—essentially, one of less patience—is a strong departure from his famed Moneyball days. Some scout quotes on Teahen from the book (page 31): Good approach to hitting. Not a lot of power right now…he takes pitches. Teahen doesn’t project. He’s a corner guy who doesn’t hit a lot of home runs. Teahen not only is a corner guy who doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, but now, he doesn’t even have a good approach to hitting. Maybe some of that change has been because of poor coaching from the Royals. Or maybe some of that change has been that Teahen got sick of being a corner outfielder who doesn’t hit many home runs. If the Sox can find a way to get Teahen back to his patient days at the plate (i.e. get his walk rate back up), then he at least can be a good OBP guy somewhere in the lineup. If not, though, he’ll become essentially an expensive utility player. Teahen is a better defensive right fielder than Jermaine Dye, but he’s still not above-average. So if Teahen is playing a corner position, he won’t have much power or much defense. A lesser worry for me is that the Sox will move Teahen to third and Gordon Beckham to second. I’d have to hope the Sox know about Teahen’s deficiencies at third and would rather keep Beckham progressing defensively there instead of moving him to second. But that infield shift is not something we can rule out just yet. THAT LAST GRAPH IS KEY. Mark is not a good third baseman. That should concern all of us especially with Lexi not yet great at ss.

Isn't Coco out until mid season next season? Didn't he have a pretty bad injury? He's got no arm either, right?? Coco? Please say no no.

You stat junkies ... please analyze Mark Teahen's strikeouts and overall s***ty offensive numbers and tell me he's more than a utility player. Royals fans are sooo glad to get rid of the guy. I real all these stat analysis of our players ... give me one on Teahen because he is a disaster in terms of production. 50 ribbies in 130 games or something? All those Ks. Of course the Sox are probably happy to get rid of Fields. Getz is the puzzle. It should have been Fields for Teahen cause they are similarly bad.

If Pods wants that, good luck. I would like him back, but if he wants to test the market for that, again, good luck. He doesn't seem to play well unless he's wearing a Chicago uniform. Maybe the Cubbies want him. Who the f*** will pay Pods 7.5 mill a year??

I forgot about the HGH thing. That's a big risk.

Are they that dumb? This trade doesn't suggest they are dumb. Chances of Fields/Getz turning into something decent are decent. It's not like Mark Teahen is George Brett. He's a very average baseball player.

I sure hope Big Jim does not sign with Cleveland. s*** he'd probably hit 10 home runs alone against us.

I wouldn't mind Ankiel. Can he field?

Dye had a damn good career for a 17th round draft pick. Bill James still projects 30 homers for him next year. Texas will take that. Let's see what production we get out of right field. Hope it can rival Dye's 30 homers and 90 ribbies.

Yes but at 2B he can platoon with Nix and if he sucks big dog, we can use Nix more often than Teahen at 2B. If he sucks at third are we gonna move Gordon back? I just became a lover of Gordon's defense as the season progressed at 3B. I really don't understand moving him to second.

This just sucks. Beckham had turned himself into a damn good defender at 3B. Teahen sucks at third base. Move f***ing Teahen to second and platoon him with Getz. WTF with Teahen being named our third baseman? Why does KW love Teahen who can't field and is not a good enough hitter to be playing 3B?? He should be platooning with NIX at second. My god. So defensively both 3B and SS next season will be atrocious on paper. I also don't like the idea of facing Fields and Getz in so many games. They will have so much motivation against us. KC really should try to sign Dye on the cheap and have him conclude his career there where he played before. They'd have 3 Sox in the starting lineup plus Olivo. Weird. To those of you who I respect ... please comment on what sense it makes to put Teahen at 3B and Beckham at 2B instead of putting Teahen at second platooning with Nix. I don't understand it at all. Our starting pitchers may be pulling their hair out next year when balls are hit on the ground.

I think we all will be thrilled if Teahen and Kotsay are our primary bench guys. Please Kenny make that happen.

Good post, southside. For what it's worth, I'll let you know what the KC version of Bill James thinks of the deal. I sent him an email. He's a saber guy and I'll send over what he thinks of the deal if he responds to me. I hope we're building up the bench first and making deals for regulars later.

You said it best. I'm happy with the signing as long as your statement holds true.

Have you seen Mark play right field? He is a lousy outfielder and assuming Dye returns to the way Dye used to hit, the tradeoff would be horrific in right field. I'm assuming Teahen will be a utility man for us; that's what I'm hoping. I'm just telling you what I know here. Royals fans do not like Teahen. He is not an everyday player on a team with hopes of winning anything significant. Teahen would be a very useful backup however as many have pointed out. I'd rather have him as a backup than say, Nix. My question to you is: Should Royals fans be hopeful Fields can become something? I'm not flaming, just asking those of you to comment on Fields outside of Chicago. Is there any hope for him to be be good?

The Sox hopefully will say Teahen is a super sub. A tradeoff Dye for Teahen in right field would be f***ing ridiculous. It would be a huge step backward for our team.

I hope the Sox think Getz sucks; we know the Sox think Fields sucks, cause Teahen is not a regular on a major league team. Guys, I've watched him for years here. Teahen is the kind of guy who starts for a sub-par team. I sure hope he's just a super sub for us. He'd be OK in that role. If he is our starting right fielder or third baseman ... f***. You are not going to like his defense. You just aren't going to. Teahen is a utility player; hope we use him that way. f***.

It's weird when the moneybag Yankees win it all. It's almost like it wasn't real baseball. Hope they don't win it again for a while.