Who else loves the off-season?
To open up the off-season, Kenny Williams made a move for a third baseman. Mark Teahen was acquired from Kansas City for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. Essentially, Williams moved a replacement level second baseman and a 28 year-old no glove, no bat clogger for a player from the Royals. Unfortunately, that guy is Mark Teahen.
For years, I have said that Kenny Williams is an overrated general manager. His last few moves have solidified my argument.
Teahen has been with the Royals full-time since 2006. The Royals moved him from position to position and tried to find a spot for him defensively. The call-up of Alex Gordon pushed him out of third base and to the outfield. His career numbers of .269/.331/.419 wOBA .327, aren’t bad, especially for a utility player that would receive 200 at-bats.
But he isn’t a utility player.
Teahen is slated to make $5M, but hasn’t earned $5M in a season since 2007. In 2008, Teahen posted a .311 wOBA and in 2009 he posted a .323 wOBA. Those two performances were worth 0.3 wins. 0.3 wins for $5M. Great move, Kenny.
That’s not even the worst part. Williams plans on STARTING Teahen at THIRD BASE. In over 3,000 innings at third base, Teahen has posted a -10.5 UZR. Combine that with his wOBA of .316 over the past two years, and Teahen might end up costing the White Sox money.
As bad as the Teahen trade will work out, the city of Chicago has already seen Alex Rios and all of his bad habits. When Williams bought Rios, he took on the rest of his absurd contract. In the middle of his prime, Rios has seen his SLG and ISO drop off for three straight years. He doesn’t walk, has a hole in his swing, and may or may not be able to play center field to boost his value.
Williams followed the Teahen move with an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
In the interview, he said “We don’t have that kind of money” when asked about Chone Figgins.
I wonder why, Kenny? Maybe it’s because you are throwing away $17M in 2010 for two average players that never hit their potential. Regardless if Figgins is worth the money, the White Sox have plenty of needs going into 2010, and now they don’t have room to add anyone worth value.
In a league where a solid lineup from top to bottom is necessary to win, the White Sox will be starting five players with projected wOBA’s under .340 – Teahen, Scott Podsednik, Rios, Alexei Ramirez and AJ Pierzynski. To compare, the Yankees had seven over .370.
White Sox baseball is on the fast track to fourth place in 2010, and they can thank the most loved GM in Chicago for that.
#1 by Chris Cwik on November 9, 2009 - 10:17 pm
While Teahen is not the answer at 3rd, Getz and Fields were average at best. Rios hasn’t been worth anything thus far, but I bet he turns it around. If he can up his line drive rate, which he did in 2007, he is going to have a nice season for the Sox. Don’t forget that Williams has a history of taking guys that no one else wants and turning them around.
He traded Brandon McCarthy for John Danks.
Traded Freddy Garcia for Gavin Floyd.
Got Alexei Ramirez for essentially nothing.
Acquired highly touted catching prospect Tyler Flowers.
Picked up Bobby Jenks for nothing.
Traded Aaron Poreda (a guy with upside, but only one pitch) and Clayton Richard (3rd starter upside) for Jake Peavy.
Signed Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye and got productive seasons out of both of them.
The thing is, Williams’ moves are often highly criticized by the stat-head community, but at the same time, they acknowledge that he goes after undervalued guys. I was really hard on Williams two seasons ago, and the team actually went to the playoffs.
If we want to talk about teams spending money on average players, let’s take a look across town.
#2 by mradenkovich on November 9, 2009 - 10:39 pm
Not only is Teahen not the answer, he might not be as good as Fields in 2010. Same defense, while Fields offers more power. Fields is under Sox control at $350K while Teahen makes 14.2 times as much… that’s the issue I have with the deal.
I know Fields and Getz are average at best, but so is Teahen.
As for the history of KW, he’s done well in the past. But Flowers, Danks, Peavy were hardly guys that weren’t wanted. Floyd, Jenks essentially were, but have those guys reached their ceilings.
The other side of town is different. Sure, Soriano had a bad contract, but nobody predicted this kind of downfall. Who else is overpaid that’s “average” — Miles is overpaid, and Gregg is overpaid. If the Cubs bring in Luis Castillo, then it’s like a Mark Teahen trade.
#3 by Monty on November 10, 2009 - 3:40 am
Marco you say KW is overrated. I ask you, where do you think he is rated by the media, baseball people, etc, and then, where you personally rank him. Some things to keep in mind. His era (2000-current), he has only 2 teams under .500, 3 teams with 90 or more wins, 6 times the White Sox have finished in first or second in the division with a WS. Not saying he’s the best, but he keeps his teams competitive, and that says more than alot of other GMs around baseball.
#4 by Marco on November 10, 2009 - 3:08 pm
I can only speak for media in Chicago — and he’s rated one of the best GMs in the history of any sports team. I say among baseball, he’s probably rated top 10 because of his longevity and because he has a ring.
I think he’s had a lot of luck in his career, but he’s pulled off some nice deals. The last two deals just stick out to me as horrible, horrible trades, and it’s handcuffing the team.