Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 26, 2009
One More Move

The Royals will try Mark Teahen at second base. He started as a third baseman and played the outfield in 2008. This is an unusual move because it's to a tougher defensive position. At least the Royals are trying to think a bit outside the box here.

Joe Posnanski (in a post about Jeff Kent that's well worth the read) likes the move:

And so, I have to admit, I'm kind of excited that the Royals are going to try Teahen at second base. I mean, hey, I don't know how seriously they will try. And I don't know if it can work. But I think this is precisely the sort of risk-reward thinking the Royals should be doing right about now. Teahen doesn't really have a place on the Royals at the moment. He doesn't fit in the outfield. The Royals are overloaded with first basemen. Alex Gordon needs to be at third base every day -- he looks to me poised for a breakout season. And the Royals even have their super sub (hopefully) in Willie Ballgame, who plays seven positions, including all three outfield spots.

But second base -- hey, why not, right? Teahen's a good athlete. He has a good and accurate arm. He likes playing the infield. And -- this is just my opinion -- I've always felt like if the Royals would just give him a role and leave him alone and not expect him to be things he ain't, he could really emerge as a good offensive player.

So far, the offense he's generated in his career works better at second than at third or as a corner outfielder.


Posted by David Pinto at 06:04 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Back when the Royals were looking at Gordon and Teahen as 3B and a black hole at SS, I was wondering why they didn't move one of them to SS. Given that they're both reasonable defenders at 3B (and at the time, Gordon looked to be superior), even as "worst everyday SS defenders" they should provide enough offense to make it an overall improvement.

Now they have Aviles at SS, and Callaspo at 2B; adding another player to the mix can't really hurt, particularly if they don't believe in Callaspo long-term.

If Teahen shows he can play the position credibly, then his trade value is enhanced even if he loses out to Callaspo. No real downside as long as Teahen embraces the move and gives it his best shot.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at January 26, 2009 07:20 PM

The Royals know far more than I about Teahen's abilities. They may very well see something in him that shows he'd be a good fit at 2B. But I have to say, in the long history of baseball, it's EXTREMELY rare for a middling corner infielder/outfielder to successfully transition to a middle infield spot.

And, quite often, a promising player's career gets derailed by being moved around. His hitting often suffers as he works overtime to learn a new defensive position. The odds get longer for Teahen because it's his second major-league transition to a new spot.

As I said, they may see a promising second baseman lurking within Mark Teahen. But looking from the outside, I think they have a much larger chance of squandering his talent and cutting short his career. If they didn't have room for him, wouldn't they have been better off trading him? A lot of teams have a hole at third base, after all. And it's not like the Royals are one quality second baseman away from the playoffs.

Posted by: jvwalt at January 26, 2009 09:38 PM
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