Teahen Gone; Callaspo Next?

Well, DM made his first big “splash” of the off-season by moving the star of the “Mark Teahen Show”. My sources tell me Fox Sports Midwest is scrambling to fix its programming lineup for next year. An early rumored candidate for a replacement is “The Luis Silverio Show: translated by Carlos Febles” – and I’ve got to be honest when I say that has me pretty excited.

I like this trade. I actually like this trade for lots of reasons – more than just the players we got back. My first reaction to the trade was “Nice, we just moved some salary”. I’m sure you all the know the Royals are in a financial bind these days and I don’t think Barry will be bailing out small-market franchises anytime soon. That would be interesting if the Baseball Czar gave out one big FA to each of the small market teams. Would you complain if American tax payers bought us Matt Holliday this Winter? I digress… You see, Mark Teahen was due for a raise this year. When you hit .251 for a full season, you deserve a raise in the MLB arbitration system. Mark was set to make between $4.5M and $5M. I’ll bet he makes $4.8M next year due to his coveted “versatility”. The Royals just cant afford to pay super-utility guys who hit .250 this kind of money. In fact, I was hoping that we would non-tender him this off-season if we couldn’t find a trade partner. Non-tender would essentially be releasing him by not offering him arbitration – it has happened in the past (ie. The Marlins were going to non-tender Mike Jacobs last year, but got us to ship them Leo Nunez last minute- ugh. And to think, I believed in Mike Jacobs – that was dumb). I know Mark is a clubhouse presence according to sources, but he also has been associated with more losses than any player in baseball over the past 5 years. Which leads me to another point on why I like this trade. It gets rid of a cornerstone piece of the brutal last 5 years of Royals baseball. With all due respect to Teahen, that is not fair to label him as that - its not necessarily a slight on him. Mark had flashes of very good baseball in his time here. He also had some bad stretches, but for the most part was an average player. I think Teahen is such a laid back guy that he found a way to deal with the losing (probably to keep his sanity). That is what kind of bothered me though, that is not what we need here. We need to create a culture of winning – now, how do you do that in Kansas City? Well, that is the hard part. But I think you start by moving some of the pieces of the last failed rebuilding effort (John Buck – you better be next). I think its sends a message and sets things in motion for this off-season (this is what I’m HOPING). So before getting into the return of the players – I like this trade because it saves us money and it moves on from the Baird rebuilding core.

Now, the other thing this trade does is bring in fresh faces (two). The first safe, non-flashy face is Chris Getz, a 26 year-old left-handed batting 2B. The second risky, upside face is Josh Fields, a 27 year-old right-handed batting 3B (who can dabble in LF and 1B).

Chris Getz: Career minor league line: .286/.362/.380; 2009 MLB Rookie line: .261/.324/.347

Getz has the tools to be a high OBP guy as you can see from his minor league career .362 OBP – he also had 168:143 career BB:K ratio in the minors. He has little pop – though he hit 11 HR’s his last full season in AAA in 2008 which led to a lofty .448 slugging % that he will never recreate. However, Getz does bring speed to the table. Something the Royals haven’t had in years. He stole bases at a 73% rate in the minors and last year in the majors was 25 for 27 in 107 games – that is very good and very promising. His glove rated slightly below average in baseball defensive metrics, but scouts say he has average to slightly above average range and glove. His arm is average, but at 2B, that is fine. He certainly will be better defensively than Callaspo (more on that later), though it is yet to be seen how AB’s will be split up with our middle infielders. Getz does not play SS or 3B – he is exclusively a 2B. His major league numbers weren’t great last year, but it was limited duty and he battled a groin injury down the stretch that finally cut his season down. For what its worth, my Sox buddies from Chicago really liked this kid and thought he was going to be their 2B in the upcoming years. I think he is a valuable piece to our puzzle. An average defensive 2B with OBP skills (in the minors) and proven MLB speed. Get his OBP back to the .340-.350 range and he is a solid starting MLB 2B. Oh, and he costs $400K for the next two years before arbitration. We need more of these cheap players.

Josh Fields: Career minor league line: .274/.359/.459 Career major league line: .229/.302/.416

Fields is the wild-card of this trade. He is former 1st round pick of the Sox (18th in 2004) who had tremendous power potential out of college. You may remember him as the solid QB for Oklahoma State from the early 2000’s. He skipped his senior year at OSU to enter the draft. His minor league numbers weren’t exceptional, but solid. His rookie year in 2007 really created a buzz: .244/.308/.480 in which he belted 23 HR’s in only 100 games. This had Chicago buzzing with his power potential and actually had Joe Crede on his way out of town due to the youngster. Unfortunately 2008 was derailed by an injury and then Crede took his job back. Last year Fields battled injuries and got off to a slow start and eventually lost his job to super rookie Gordon Beckham. So a little pop and fizzle from this one time phenom. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk a lot – which DM fans will love about this guy. However, I think anytime you can get a former first rounder who is still relatively young (turns 27 next month), I think its worth a flier – especially when you’re a small market team. The Rays did it with Carlos Pena, the Angels with Juan Rivera – maybe the Royals are due for a break. Maybe we need someone to out-perform their expectations rather than under (see: Gordon, Alex). Speaking of Gordon, what does this mean for 3B? Alex Gordon is still our starting 3B, but Fields offers some options. He can play 3B against a tough lefty and give Alex the day off, he can play a little 1B as well. He can dabble in the OF and I would love for him to start the season in RF and get his AB’s rather than Jose Guillen. In the least, I like Fields as a platoon guy at 3B with Gordon. Check out his splits against lefties: .285/.356/.580 – that’s a .936 OPS for you math majors. That is big time pop against lefties. Honestly, I think he should start at 3B against lefties, which will help Gordon’s confidence as he avoids his strikeouts against Lefties. Gordon’s OPS: RHP vs LHP - .785 vs. .653. Seriously, Trey – you can juggle 3B depending on the starting pitcher and have a pretty solid 3B production. His glove isn’t great, but he plays average 3B and his sample size in the OF is too small. He could also serve as a DH at times. If we do give Kila Ka’ahuie a shot at DH next year, you could also platoon Fields at DH against LHP’s. I just think his bat needs to be in the lineup against Lefties, as we have very little pop from the right side of the plate (the left too). Oh, and he costs $400K. We need more of these cheap players.

What’s next? I would hope this acquisition rids us of Mike Jacobs (saving another $4.5M after his “well earned” raise), but I’m not holding my breath. My worry is that he keeps Jacobs around to platoon at DH with Fields, (Jacobs line against RHP: .243/.311/.447), and I would hate that. Do you know that Jacobs had a .500 OPS in 111 PA’s against Lefties last year? Wow, Trey – that is pathetic you gave him that many chances with his track record against LHP. I’d love to just cut bait on Jacobs, admit he didn’t fit and save the money, but time will tell. I really want to give Kila a shot out of the gates and use Fields in spots where he can succeed. The next big topic is what to do with Callaspo and I don’t know how I feel. Bert’s offense was great last year and the 3rd best 2B in the AL (behind Cano and Hill). He overachieved power-wise and I have to think that is going to regress slightly. He had zero career HR’s in his first 441 AB’s, then 11 in his next 534. Maybe he found something, but I have to think there is a little luck there. I love his approach and the fact that he walks more than strikes out. Some will say its crazy to trade him after posting an .813 OPS on an offense starved team. But we are also a defense and pitching starved team as well. On the other hand, you could say that we are trading him at his peak. It will be tough for him to repeat last year on a consistent basis (though he does have a very good minor league track record). Ok, now the big con’s on Bert: his defense and his drinking. First off, he is the worst defensive 2nd baseman I have ever seen. No joke. The numbers all reflect how bad he is too, but you can just watch him to see it. It goes beyond errors for me. It’s not covering 2B with two outs and sharp grounder up the hole at short which leads to a prolonged inning because SS can’t flip the ball to 2nd to end the inning. Its not covering on stolen bases or not rotating on bunt plays – the dude is never where he needs to be. He really is an abomination in the field. I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot at DH and a little 3B as he plays better there with less need for range and/or a brain. He could play 3B against Lefties with Fields at DH and Gordon on the bench. Split time at 2B with Getz and get him 150 starts someway or another – I would be ok with that. He doesn’t have the pop you’d like from DH, but he has great OBP skills. If he does come back, it will be interesting to see how he is used. Oh yeah, the other con: the drinking. A domestic violence charge in AZ, a DUI on UMKC campus and a stint to rehab. Apparently, he still likes to party so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. The Royals shipped off two promising prospects in deals earlier this year, both of these prospects had repeated run-in’s with the law. Is Bert getting the same treatment? I don’t know.

There is a rumor that Callaspo may be heading to the Dodgers for AAA catcher A.J. Ellis. Ellis is interesting as he is a light hitting catcher but has a career OBP in the minors of .398. Including .436 and .438 in AAA the last two years - that's not a typo. He is also regarding as a very good defensive catcher – something we badly need. Sounds like we should do this deal in a heartbeat right? Well, the problem with Ellis… is that he turns 29 in April of next year. Not really a young prospect. Some ask why he hasn’t made the bigs yet, well he is blocked by Russell Martin – one of the best young catchers in the game. It would be risky trading your 2nd best hitter for a 29 year old minor leaguer. However, the OBP and defensive skills are definitely there – just a question of can they translate to the majors. Another big plus about this deal is that DM recently pointed out that we led the majors in passed balls and wild pitches and that he needs to fix that. With this rumored deal, it proves to me that DM has actually looked at a statistic and then applied it to his decision making – an encouraging sign to say the least! This deal would also signal the end of John Buck (saving us $3.5M and ridding another piece of the losing Baird project) which is a plus. With this trade, you could potentially could save over $8M of money (Teahen & Buck) and bring in 3 league minimum pieces to your 25 man roster. It is intriguing to say the least and a step in the right direction – improved defense and OBP – big steps for a small market team. The risk is moving Callaspo and betting on Ellis. We’ll see what happens. I’d like it a lot more if they threw in a young arm to go with Ellis, maybe an upside reliever to help our pen.

Bottom line: I really like the Teahen trade and I’m waiting to see what happens with Callaspo. Either way, it looks like a step in the right direction to me. That direction is at least something different. I want to see change.


Exit Question: Do you like the Teahen trade? Would you move Bert?