This one's for JT.This one's for JT.An interesting tidbit popped up in Ken Rosenthal's notes column today regarding Mark Teahen. As it regards trade rumors, you have to take it with a grain of salt and while he quotes a member of the Royals' front office, he doesn't say who it was. With that said, the suggestion is that the Royals aren't particularly willing to part with Teahen and may even be planning to move him to a corner outfield position on a permanent basis.

Here's exactly what Rosenthal had to say:

  • "The Royals do not seem terribly inclined to trade Mark Teahen, whom one club official describes as 'our most consistent player, day in and day out.' Teahen, 27, could end up on an outfield corner next season if Jose Guillen becomes the full-time DH, but his salary will rise to the $4 million to $5 million range in arbitration — and then go even higher the year after that. More than one rival executive believes the Royals need to maximize Teahen's value sooner rather than later. A left-handed hitter, he would be a perfect fit for say, the Tigers or Giants, among other clubs."

Including 2009, Teahen's five seasons have been inconsistent. That of course flies in the face of the words of the Royals unnamed executive in Rosenthal's piece. Teahen hit .246/.309/.376 as a rookie, then jumped those numbers to .290/.357/.517 in his second season. It was at that point that many, myself included, saw star potential in the player who seemed to be the most fruitful bounty from the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes of 2004.

In 2007, Teahen's third season, he maintained his batting average (.285) and patience (.353 on-base%), but his power disappeared (.410 slugging percentage). After hitting 18 home runs in 439 plate appearances in 2006, he dropped to seven homers in 544 plate appearances one season later. And this at a stage of a player's career when his skills should be on the upward arc.

Last season, Teahen recovered some of his power (15 homers), but it came at a cost -- his batting average dropped to .255 and with it, his on-base percentage tumbled. This season, his average (the most unstable of the percentage categories) has recovered to its 2006/2007 level and most of the on-base percentage has returned. As for the power, Teahen has settled into what seems to be his career level. To whit:

TEAHEN'S ISOLATED POWER
2005: .130
2006: .227
2007: .125
2008: .147
2009: .157
Career: .153

Isolated power, which of course has its roots in Bill James' work, is a great way to look at a player's extra-base ability without the wild flucuations of batting average. It's simply slugging percentage minus batting average. The AL average isolated power over the last five seasons is .157, including this season when power is back up to 1998-2004 levels. Teahen, in other words, has average power for a big-league baseball player.

In fact, if you take away Teahen's rookie season (we're giving him a mulligan on that one), his career line is .277/.340/.436. The AL average hitter during the same span has hit .270/.337/.427. Teahen may be a hairsbreadth better than average, but basically, he's as close to the mean as you're going to get.

That makes the position he plays crucial to his value as a ballplayer. Let's use Teahen's OPS for the last four seasons (.776) as a proxy for his offensive level. Here is the average OPS, by position, for the AL this year:

C: .720
1B: .853
2B: .750
3B: .756
SS: .701
LF: .785
CF: .747
RF: .800
DH: .788

As a third baseman, Teahen is comfortably above-average with the bat. The problem with that is that he has no future as a third baseman in this organization. That position will be held down by Alex Gordon and, down the road, Mike Mousakas. As you can see, if you shift Teahen to a corner outfield position, he's below average and, thus, a drain on the offense's productivity potential. That is not a viable long-term solution.

The early-season experiment of playing Teahen at second was a worthy one because of how well his bat plays at that position. However, you're not going to build a top-notch defensive squad with Teahen playing a middle infield position. His best role is probably that as a super-utility player, especially being that he has a significant weakness against lefty pitchers. However, the bottom line is this: Teahen is not a player the Royals should be disinclined to deal. If you can get decent return for him now, for goodness sake -- do it.

At the same time, let's not forget that average has value. Considering the Royals' long struggle to find even league-average solutions in their lineup, they can't just give Teahen away. It's all about what you can get back in a deal. But know this: At age 27, Teahen's trade value is probably is as high as it's ever going to be.