Thad Bosley

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:47 PM) Love your projections, especially when you didnt take into account his ridiculously slow start due to tinkering in his swing. He was coming on pretty good of late, and looked to be back to his career norms. And it was only a year or so ago when people were calling for more players that can hit the ball the other way with authority for a change of pace in the order, well Teahen does that fairly well. And I honestly dont think he will be that bad over the course of a season at 3B at all. The skill is there, I think alot of it is becoming familiar with being at 3B full time. When is this improvement at 3B scheduled to kick in? We're a third of the way into the season, and he's been nothing short of lousy with the leather to date.

Why Mark Teahen is considered to be a starting player on a Major League Baseball team continues to blow my mind. His skill set screams "25th man on the roster" to me. He is not a good offensive player by any stretch of the imagination. Even without the injury, he was on pace to hit 10 home runs and drive in 49 RBIs this season, a staggerlingly low output for a guy who doesn't do anything else especially well, offensively speaking. And of course we all know now too well just how lousy he is with the glove. The only thing even remotely approaching value that he brings to a team is versatility. You can, ostensibly, plug him into five positions on the field, but even then, he's probably not your first choice as a replacement. No, from what I've seen with my own eyes this year, and what his five year track record strongly suggests, he really is the left-handed version of Jayson Nix, who just happens to be the 25th man on our team at the moment!

Hawk, being in Chicago as often we will be this month is all well and good, but if during this month we continue to feature Mark Kotsay batting fifth and Omar Vizquel as the primary starter at 3rd, well, I just don't know.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) Month is surprising, didn't seem like a major injury at the time. But putting this into some perspective rather than kneejerk emotional reaction: I will wager that a Nix/Vizquel platoon is worse offensively than Teahen. By how much? 5%? 10%? 15% I don't know. I do know it's not like replacing 2010 Rios with D. Wise. Nix/Vizquel are better defensively than Teahen. So we get an upgrade on defense at the hot corner, and we likely get some marginal decrease in our offensive production for 1/9th of the batting order for 1/6th of the season. This is less than a drop in the bucket compared to the relative importance of our starting pitching (which we expected to be among the top few rotations in the league), not being dead last in the AL with a 5.04 ERA. As of today, and almost a third of the way through the season, Mark Teahen is on pace to smash ten homeruns while belting in a whopping 49 RBIs. That is pretty much on par with what he does every year. You don't think Nix can match that power outlay over a full season?

I'm not sure I'm up for a "platoon" of Vizquel and Nix. That means Vizquel gets the majority of the at-bats, and I just don't see how we can be successful with a line-up that regularly features both of the Powerless Brothers - Vizquel and Pierre. Now while Nix isn't the most optimal selection, at least he offers some power to go along with some decent speed. I'd take my chances starting him most games and then use Vizquel for late inning defense.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 24, 2010 -> 08:46 PM) Please don't make me have to find a thread a month or two ago of why I presented Alex Gordon to be consistently dicked around by that organization despite putting up similar numbers to Teahen in his short career (.249-.331-.413-.744 97 OPS+ to Teahen's .267-.331-.415-.746 96 OPS+) Kind Sir, please point me in the direction of that particular thread, if you wouldn't mind. Sadly, I must have missed it. But I'm sure it would confirm many of my feelings/suspicions regarding our 3rd baseman of now thru 2012. Ick!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2010 -> 08:22 PM) Gordon > Teahen. This is not hard to understand. Gordon was undoubtedly their 3B of the future. It has nothing to do with what Teahen could or couldn't do. And how would you know what the Royals had "diagnosed" back in 2006? And I already know Gordon has yet to establish himself. That's of no relevance. I'm talking strictly going into 2007 and why Teahen was never going to be a full-time 3B. "Gordon > Teahen"? As lousy as Teahen is (and he is!), at least Mark is in the Major Leagues. Gordon isn't, and for good reason. He's been every bit as lousy as Teahen has been up until this point, and with plenty of sample size to prove it. Their poor performances at the Major League level to date are actually fairly similar. And that begs an interesting question: why is one of them in the minors right now, and then why is one of them the STARTING third baseman for OUR team!

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 24, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) And Teahen would have been blocked at third base in a similar way as our 2008 #1 shortstop pick was stopped at shortstop on our team (i.e. there was a superior position player at his position). But no, by then, Teahen had already been diagnosed as a deficient third sacker and thus shuffled off to other positions, so replacing him with a first round draft pick was a no-brainer for the Royals. And not to mention, but Gordon has been no great shakes to date, either, and yet the Royals chose to divest themselves of Teahen for a bucket of balls before Gordon, so that tells ya somethin', too! I meant to say that Alex Gordon would have been blocked in a similar fashion to Beckham being blocked over Alexei had Teahen been living up to his side of the deal over the past couple of years over there in KC.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2010 -> 08:07 PM) Alex Gordon being the #2 overall pick and the consensus best position prospect in baseball at the time had a little something to do with that. And Teahen would have been blocked at third base in a similar way as our 2008 #1 shortstop pick was stopped at shortstop on our team (i.e. there was a superior position player at his position). But no, by then, Teahen had already been diagnosed as a deficient third sacker and thus shuffled off to other positions, so replacing him with a first round draft pick was a no-brainer for the Royals. And not to mention, but Gordon has been no great shakes to date, either, and yet the Royals chose to divest themselves of Teahen for a bucket of balls before Gordon, so that tells ya somethin', too!

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 24, 2010 -> 08:01 PM) Two words. Alex Gordon. Two words: Mark Teahen. He came along a few years before Gordon did. Had Teahen established himself in any way, shape, or form before then (which he didn't), Gordon would not have been handed the position on a platter as quickly as he was.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2010 -> 07:55 PM) Key word being "exclusively." Had he displayed any command (or even some remote ability to be able to responsibly handle the position over the long haul) over third base over those FIVE years, he would have, more or less, been played there "exclusively".

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2010 -> 07:51 PM) I wanted to give him a full year exclusively at one position to truly gauge his defense. But to this point, we may as well have Wilson Betemit over there. He had plenty of time at that position over the last FIVE years to come to that conclusion already.

It's a good thing Teahen hits as well as he does, or otherwise.....

QUOTE (flavum @ May 24, 2010 -> 07:32 PM) I still want to know why Hawk calls him Shin Sin Choo... He's clearly channeling the late, great (and former Sox announcer - let's never forget that!) *Harry Caray* in his pronunciation skills at this point in his broadcasting career!

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ May 24, 2010 -> 05:39 PM) We really are hitting the ball, Masterson clearly doesn't have it. Or Omar and Juan have started some late-career roiding and/or bat corking. One or the other!

I'd like to see Beckham attempt a steal here. Any sort of success and/or sense of contribution can only be a good thing. He's got the speed - go!

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ May 20, 2010 -> 10:21 PM) Anybody see and remember Buerhle's electric Opening Day game and play in the rear view mirror? Sigh..................... Seems like it was "Once upon a midnight Buehrle"......

Cinch it up and hunker down, Andruw!

Lol - I don't know who needed that hit more: us or Gordon! : )

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 20, 2010 -> 09:56 PM) Even JR called the Division winning team of 2008 boring. They were boring the second half of 2006, boring in 2007, boring in 2008, boring in 2009 and maybe have even taken it up a notch in 2010. Something has to be done. This "I believe in the talent" BS needs to stop. And speaking of "boring", hold on - Teahen is at the plate!

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 20, 2010 -> 09:20 PM) on the SCORE this morning they were saying Hahn really should be named GM with Williams getting a John Paxson type role You know if they fire Guillen, Cora gets the job and some cheap s*** will be named hitting coach The only way I see Kenny losing his job and/or getting kicked upstairs is in concert with the triumphant return of one Tony LaRussa to the organization to take his place.

Wimpy The Dukemeister Big Bob Cecil's Body (friend!) Welcome back, Tom Paciorek!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) If it does come down to us being sellers...I think we target low a-ball, recent draftee kinds of guys. High risk, high reward, but if they're far enough away from the big leagues, there's probably legitimate value to be stolen from teams. A la "Matt Karchner-for-Jon Garland"

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 11, 2010 -> 10:02 PM) Alex Rios is hitting .330 with a .966 OPS. He's a joy to watch. Don't forget the 10 stolen bases, either. He's turning singles into run-scoring opportunities, too, in addition to his already-impressive statistical showing. No, in this othewrise disappointing season to date, Rios has thus far offered a whole lotta hope, and at the least, a foundation from which to build, and build rather quickly.

Where in the h-e-double-el toothpick is that amazing curveball of Jenks'? He's got the velocity back on the fastball. You couple that with the nasty curve, and we're back in business in the 9th inning!