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.

JJ Hardy is one of the first players moved this off-season

The Yankees earned their 27th World Series on Wednesday, and the baseball season is over, just in terms of games played. MLB’s “off-season” isn’t “off” by any means with player options and trades underway, with free agency coming up.  Some things to keep in mind…for 15 days after the World Series ends, teams have exclusive rights to their own free agents. Players can talk with other teams, but only in general terms. The GMs will meet from November 9th-11th in Chicago.

Since Wednesday, some trades have been made and a couple caught my attention.

1. White Sox getting Mark Teahan from Royals for Chris Getz and Josh Fields

2. Brewers receiving Carlos Gomez from Twins for JJ Hardy

The White Sox trade caught me off-guard. Not as much that GM Kenny Williams made a trade, but that he got 1B/3B/OF Mark Teahan. Teahan was 271/.325/.408 last year, but is a career .261/.325/.514 hitter at U.S. Cellular Field. FanGraphs has him at -2.0 UZR/150 in right, which is a massive upgrade over Dye’s -17.5 mark. Teahen earned $3.5MM in 2009, and has two more years of arbitration eligibility ahead of him. Also, he is 28-years old and has a career .327 wOBA in five full seasons. So, he isn’t going to hit better than Dye, will be around a 1 win-a-year player, and appears be a solution for a team that is strapped for cash. According to Sox Reporter Joe Cowley, the Sox aren’t likely to bring back Jim Thome or Jermaine Dye, and it makes a Scott Podsednik return unlikely, unless he takes a small (around 1-2 million) offer.

Deal for Sox: D

The Royals receive former first-round pick and Sox burnout 3B/1B/DH Josh Fields and 2B Chris Getz. Fields isn’t good on defense and hasn’t produced much on offense. Getz doesn’t have any power combined with his .311 wOBA. They are some pieces Royals GM Dayton Moore has when building his “team”. Neither player is going to make a huge splash, but some cheap and young players doesn’t hurt.

Deal for Royals: C+

JJ Hardy was going to be dealt this off-season, it was just a matter of when and for whom. The Brewers killed two birds with one stone in this deal. First, they got rid of JJ Hardy and Alcides Escobar can start full-time at short stop. Second, they got Twins speedster and defensive stud Carlos Gomez, thus solving their CF issue and answering the question whether they would bring Mike Cameron back or not. The move saves them about $14 million if they would have kept Cameron and Hardy and not acquired Gomez. Gomez’s value comes from his legs. He has a career 73.8% SB success rate with a career +14.2 UZR in CF. The main drawback for the 24-year old is his .286 career wOBA with no power (.346 career slg pct). Gomez hasn’t shown too much improvement in his offense since entering the majors, and but still has time to improve. Considering the amount of interest in baseball around Hardy, it seems the Brewers could have done better than Gomez, if not, just waited a bit.

Deal for Brewers: B

The Twins get the guy they wanted in Hardy. The 27-year old Hardy is an outstanding defensive shortstop, 48.7 runs above average over the past 3 years which is good for third best among all players over that time! Hardy took a lot of heat this season for his poor offensive season, .229/.302/.357 and was even sent down to AAA. Some have argued the Brewers did that to manipulate Hardy’s service-time and push back his arbitration by a year, but Hardy said he won’t pursue a grievance over the situation. Hardy was unlucky this year with a .264 BABIP, compared to a .302 MLB average BABIP. With his career .325 wOBA, the Twins can expect a slightly above average hitter with a great glove in Hardy. Losing Gomez will probably have Delmon Young start full-time for the Twins.

Deal for Twins: A-

>>Fangraphs.com and MLBTradeRumors.com were used in this article.

Is Alex Rios headed to the South Side?

After months of speculation (and after the Trade Deadline), the Toronto Blue Jays are once again rumored to be making a big move. However, it’s not Roy Halladay that the Jays are shopping. This time around, the Blue Jays put outfielder Alex Rios on waivers. It was announced yesterday that Rios was claimed by an unnamed team. After much speculation, it appears that the Chicago White Sox were the team that put in a claim on Rios. So, what exactly is Kenny Williams playing at here?

Kenny Williams is no stranger to taking risks. Hell, he just acquired an injured pitcher to help the White Sox down the stretch. Now, it appears he is willing to take another risk this season by trying to acquire Alex Rios. After acquiring Jake Peavy, it appeared that the White Sox could not afford to add any more payroll to the roster this season. That may make things more difficult with the Blue Jays considering Rios has a 7 year, 69 million dollar contract. However, the move to acquire Rios shows that the White Sox are committed to winning, both this season and in future seasons. The Sox will most likely have a lot of money coming off the books following this season. Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, and Jose Contreras’ contracts are all up at the end of the season, and it is likely the White Sox will not re-sign any of the three. This leaves some cash to pay both Peavy and Rios for the following seasons. Hopefully, Williams also saved enough cash to sign pitcher John Danks to a nice long contract as well.

Williams' risks have paid off so far

Williams has truly done a great job re-tooling this White Sox team in the past couple of years. After winning the World Series in 2005, Williams didn’t stand pat. He traded fan favorite, Aaron Rowand, to acquire slugger Jim Thome. The team still won 90 games in 2006, but failed to make the playoffs. However, the team collapsed in 2007, only winning 72 games. However, 2008 put the White Sox back on the map with a division title and another playoff appearance. While Kenny Williams will never admit it, 2008 was a re-building year that went far better than expected. While there were still some old veterans on the team, young players came out of nowhere to lead this team to the division title. In the rotation, both John Danks and Gavin Floyd emerged as future top-mid rotation starters. At the plate, Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Quentin came close to winning the Rookie of the Year award and the MVP trophy respectively. The White Sox were far from the best team in baseball in 2008, but it was truly a brilliant season for Kenny Williams. He realized that the Sox’s aging stars were fading and would not be effective in a few years, yet he also realized that his team had to get younger. He took the same approach in the off-season, acquiring catching prospect Tyler Flowers from the Braves.

The face of the new dynasty?

This year has brought more of the same from Williams. The aging sluggers aren’t getting any younger, but every other position seems to be solidified for the near future. Gordon Beckham has solidified himself as a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, while Chris Getz has been ok at second base. With most of the veterans coming off the books after this season, Williams has continued to build the next (the first?) White Sox dynasty by acquiring Peavy and potentially Rios for the upcoming seasons. Williams has already taken some big risks this season, but even if they don’t work out in 2009 the Sox are in position to contend in 2010 and in future years.