My friend, a Cardinals fan, made this claim to me a few nights ago. I dismissed it as rivalry-fueled bias. After seeing foxsports.com's Dayn Perry make the same claim, however, I decided to stop rubbing my eyes and actually do the research.
My findings shocked me. It's difficult to think about, but in reality there is a legitimate argument to claim that Mark Teahen was 2007's WORST offensive RF (amongst regulars).
I defined a "regular" RF as a player who received at least 225 PA's as a RF, 225 being an aggressive estimate of 1/3 of a team's entire PA's from the position over a 162 game season. Here are how last year's regular RF's stack up by OPS:
- Magglio Ordonez, DET 1.029
- Vladimir Guerrero, LAA .950
- Brad Hawpe, COL .926
- Jack Cust, OAK .912
- Matt Kemp, LAD .894
- Corey Hart, MIL .892
- Jeremy Hermida, FLA .870
- Ken Griffey, CIN .868
- Rick Ankiel, STL .863
- Luke Scott, HOU .855
- Alex Rios, TOR .852
- Travis Buck, OAK .851
- Nick Markakis, BAL .847
- Nick Swisher, OAK .836
- Ryan Ludwick, STL .818
- Bobby Abreu, NYY .814
- Marlon Byrd, TEX .814
- Jose Guillen, SEA .813
- Xavier Nady, PIT .806
- Jermaine Dye, CHW .803
- Andre Ethier, LAD .802
- Randy Winn, SF .798
- J.D. Drew, BOS .796
- Cliff Floyd, CHC .795
- Franklin Gutierrez, CLE .790
- Michael Cuddyer, MIN .789
- Brad Wilkerson, TEX .786
- Jeff Francoeur, ATL .782
- Shawn Green, NYM .782
- Brian Giles, SD .777
- Shane Victorino, PHI .770
- Juan Encarnacion, STL .769
- Austin Kearns, WAS .766
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Mark Teahen, KC .763
- Jacque Jones, CHC .735
- Delmon Young, TB .724
- Trot Nixon, CLE .678
- Carlos Quentin, ARI .647
The fact remains that Delmon and Teahen were the only two of the bottom five to hold down RF almost exclusively for the season (sadly, Shane Costa can't be included in the conversation. Sorry folks). One could say that Teahen barely beat out Delmon Young for the dubious honor of worst-offensive regular in RF in 2007, and this is only because of Delmon's complete inability to take a walk as evidenced by his Tony Pena-esque .316 OBP (Teahen slugged .410 to Delmon's .408).
Personally, I am close to certain that Teahen will be better in 2008, but this comparison study does put his disappointing 2007 in perspective (that is, MUCH MORE disappointing than I originally perceived). Teahen's performance would have been passable at 3B, but in the outfield, his offensive production was comparatively poor. The most frustrating thing about this is that although the numbers speak to how he was completely outmatched offensively in RF compared to the rest of the league, I stubbornly believe that he can and will do better. In other words, the 2007 Mark Teahen was not the career Mark Teahen, whatever that means. Then again, neither was the 2006 Mark Teahen that for an isolated period of two months neared a 1.000 OPS.
I love Teahen, and I'm quick to give him a pass especially since the move to RF wasn't his choice in the first place. Hopefully 2008 will be a launching pad season for him in establishing himself offensively.