Your Mark Teahen to Yankees Rumor Roundup

by royalsreview on Mar 9, 2009 2:44 PM EDT in News Comment 21 comments

Let's dive in:

KC Star (Dutton): Arod's Injury Fuels Rumors of Yankee's Interest in Teahen.

Dutton's story includes this nugget:

Royals officials, for now, are brushing off the speculation, and general manager Dayton Moore has long maintained that Teahen is more valuable now to the club than in previous years because of his versatility.

“What I’m hoping,” one Royals official said, “is they sign (second baseman Mark) Grudzielanek. That way, we get a (compensatory) draft pick.”

Rotoworld: Yanks Could Be Interested in Teahen
Kaegel: Royals Not Talking Teahen with Yanks
MLB.com: Cashman Downplays Teahen Rumor
Star Ledger: Teahen Listed as a Possible Option
NY Post: Teahen listed as a long-term utility man solution in random column
NY Post: Random story suggesting Yankees will stick with Ransom
SI.com: Story discussing impact of Arod absence which makes no mention of Teahen

As far as I can tell, the arch of the rumor is trending downward, as I found quite a few stories about Rodriguez and the Yankees which made no mention of Teahen at all. There was an initial buzz regarding Teahen, and when the possibility made it into two Dutton stories, which then hit Rotoworld and MLBTR, it lit a fire across the blogosphere. But beyond that, there's really nothing there, aside from a few shadings within some of the quotes Dutton pulled. Probably 65% of this rumor is simply the way the Yankees are covered and thought about, both by media members and casual fans (i.e. the thousand bloggers and message boarders who are linking these stories everywhere).

Issues in play, intermingled with my own, uninformed, two-cent analysis:

How good is Teahen at third at this point? Unless the Yankees have a perception that he's an average to above average player at the hot corner, he may not be a better short-term option than Esteban German.
How much do you believe Moore's oft-stated he means more to us than anybody else line? Has this ever really made much sense?
Tangled up in this, of course, is that you have to decide what Moore really thinks of Teahen, which no one really knows.
Is Teahen's trade value ever going to be higher? Does Moore try to seize that leverage and really bleed the Yankees? And if he does so, will he end up killing a possible trade, and convincing the Yankees to go with a lesser (presumably) solution.

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How much do you believe Moore's oft-stated he means more to us than anybody else line? Has this ever really made much sense?

Yes. We traded Carlos Beltran for him. Granted, it wasn’t DM, but we still have a lot invested in Teahen.

German makes a lot of sense to the Yanks IMO. He can get on base a bit, he’s not as embarrassing at 3B as he is at 2B, and when A-Rod comes back, he can spell Cano against lefties.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 9, 2009 2:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I just don’t know how the reality of what moore has done fits what he says:

1. teahen does not fit his profile as a moore player: no power, no superficial speed
2. teahen has been moved from position to position
3. why would teahen be more valuable to the royals as a bench player than to another team as a starter (this goes back to the endless Cubs rumors)

by royalsreview on Mar 9, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"he’s not as embarrassing at 3B"

Germ’s defense is marginal on his good days and pathetic on average days. He would be laughed out of the Bowery before the first week. I can’t believe that the Skanks would even seriously consider this happening.

by grudz96 on Mar 9, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What is Teahen's trade value right now?

I was thinking along the lines of the Mark DeRosa deal – three C level prospects. Could we get more than that? Less than that?

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 9, 2009 2:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I can't keep up

how long is A-Rod supposed to be out for?

Bringing you more-or-less replacement level analysis and commentary since sometime in 2008.

by devil_fingers on Mar 9, 2009 2:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ESPN.com has a “Teahan” rumor today. Maybe their considering him as an alternitive to Ransum.

by 2X2L on Mar 9, 2009 3:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

German released today after clearing waivers

I look forward to Will’s “Remembering Bat Flip”

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 9, 2009 3:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think DM loves Teahen

He has said many times that he is “versatile”. He probably also views him as a big OBP guy-which he’s really not. He can’t hit, but he is a “team” kind of guy. So, yeah, I think the Royals DO think he’s more valuable than any other team does. Which means we’ll be keeping him.

Perhaps it’s a bunch of fluff but the Yanks appear to be intending to use Ransom, since it’s a semi short outage for Arod. But, for a team competing, that’s actually a long time to be without their best player. Also, even when he comes back he may be no good for some further time.

Fourth to First

by kabrink on Mar 9, 2009 3:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

maybe...

a reasonable estimate here is two months

thats a long time to try to go with ransom in the situation the yanks are in

we’ll see

by royalsreview on Mar 9, 2009 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

for real...

i cant see the yanks going with ransom. they spent like $450 million this offseason to make the playoffs. Ransom costing them a game or two in april/may could be that difference. They will get someone..and I think it’ll be a 3b…not a 2b like Grudz. They are looking for a rebound year from Cano, so i find it unlikely that they’ll mess with him by shuffling him across the diamond for a month and a half, only to be switched back to 2b long term.

TPJ...you're dead to me

by billybeingbilly on Mar 9, 2009 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Personally, I believe the

“he means more to us than to anybody else” line.

When you consider that DDJ and Guillen have both had, at the least, a history of missing at least a moderate amount of time to injuries each year, and that the only internal alternative, apparently, is Mitch Maier (I like Maier, but when it comes right down to it, I’m not sure I like him enough to have him be ONE INJURY away from starting every game), I really don’t want to trade Teahen.

I’ve always been a big proponent of having a strong bench, and Teahen would go a long way to reaching that goal. I wouldn’t be surprised at all, if limited to 300 or 350 PAs, he doesn’t improve his OPS this season.

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Mar 9, 2009 3:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ITA; Teahen And

Sporqie cover so many positions together (some overlapping) that our 4-man bench can be enough. Callaspo, too, can play all the IF and OF spots in a pinch. When the inevitable DDJ/Hoagie DL stints happen, Teahen can plug the gap and Maier can earn Red Lobster money for a while. It could work.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Mar 9, 2009 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Simple solution

4th OFer: Zack Greinke! He’ll hit as well as any of our other OFers.

by BrRoyal on Mar 10, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't wish being a yankee on my worst enemy.

Certainly not on a seemingly nice guy like Teahen. I agree with Loyal2sdad in thinking that we need a strong bench and T. does make us stronger at many positions than the other players in question. Bloomy, TPJ, and Gload are not the answer. Keep T and save. Lastly, I am very very happy that we will face an ARODless Yankee team on opening day. We need to take advantage of this and beat the snot out of the Skanks. Is my hatred for that team showing?

by grudz96 on Mar 9, 2009 7:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs