Teahen Dealt to the White Sox

“The Royals have agreed to trade outfielder/third baseman Mark Teahen to the White Sox for second baseman Chris GetzJosh D. Fields. and third baseman”

Good trade here all around.  The White Sox needed a legit 3B after the failed experiments with Wilson Betemit and Josh Fields.  Fields was thought to be the 3B of the future, but continuously showed a lack of dedication.  The White Sox dealt Nick Swisher to the Yankees last offseason for Wilson Betemit, who was supposed to give Fields a ‘push’ at the very least, if not win the position outright.  Neither occurred which left a huge hole in the White Sox lineup.

Teahen is no whiz with the glove, but a lot of that is due to the fact that the Royals have jerked him around from position to position for the last several years, a la Brandon Inge in Detroit.  Teahen can play four or five positions ‘well’ but none of them great.

That said, he is more or less your prototypical #2 hitter, something the White Sox can use for sure.  The end result here is that the White Sox now have a legitimate 3B for the first time since Joe Crede left.

It remains to be seen who will man 2B.  Alexei Ramirez did well there in 2008 but SS is his primary position.  That said, Gordon Beckham is a true natural SS as well.  While Beckham was only used at 3B last year, he had a -2.4 UZR/150 while Alexei hat a +2.5 UZR/150 at SS.  Chances are Alexei sticks at SS while Beckham slides over to 2B where his bat will be utilized far better than at 3B.

A different option would to not re-sign Jermaine Dye which would result in Teahen playing RF.  Beckham could stay at 3B while Alexei resides at SS.  Someone along the line of Brent Lillibridge could then be slotted at 2B.  If that is the end result, this trade looks a bit worse in my book…but I think the first option above is the more logical way to go.

The Royals net themselves a couple of youngsters but neither have huge upside.  Despite Alex Gordon’s struggles in the past couple of seasons, he is the future of that organization and will most certainly be the starter…where exactly does that leave Fields?  He’s not DH caliber material, so don’t expect to see him there.  Unless the Royals have plans to unload Gordon to some other club, this portion of the deal doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Getz will be a nice addition at 2B and should do well as a league average second baseman defensively.  The biggest problem in this infield is Yuneisky Betancourt, who is arguably the worst defensive player at ANY position in the majors.  No matter how good Getz and Gordon are with the glove, Betancourt is a disaster.

The White Sox clearly get the edge here.  Another nice trade by Kenny Williams, who is one of the better GMs in baseball.