INDIANAPOLIS — The White Sox third baseman of the present also became their third baseman of the immediate future when Mark Teahen and the team agreed to a three-year, $14-million contract on Tuesday, avoiding arbitration.
I won’t be able to get around to this until after work, so feel free to start the discussion without me.
Avoids arbitration and save money and gain an additional year in theory. My working theory is Buddy Bell can get this guy back to where he was a few years ago.
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I like the long term stability. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
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Interestingly, Fangraphs, which doesn’t like a lot of Kennynomics, seems mildly (very mildly) positive about this contract.
“It also makes some sense for the White Sox. Their risk is not really in overpaying, but rather guaranteeing money to a player who they had under control anyways and who they might not want to have around two years from now. The reward is if Teahen returns either his prior hitting or fielding skills, then the White Sox have a cheap asset on their hands.”
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/mark-teahens-curious-deal
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I think Teahen has alot of potential. He’s talented and now he’ll be surrounded by good players on a competing team instead of wondering if he’ll finish 4th or 5th.
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The sox guaranteed millions to save thousands. STUPID
Teahan is a slightly above average player and noone knows how we will produce on a real team that may actually contend. Gaining a possible 1 extra year under contract by risking 14 mil on a guy who if he is terrible in 2010 would be non tendered is a gamble we simply didnt need. Worst arbitration buyout signing since macdougal!
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It’s easy to judge Macdougal in hindsight. At the time in 06 Macdougal was one of the only dependable relivers the Sox had. The sox made the decision to extend him and in hindsight wasn’t the best decision.
I wouldn’t say that Teahan is the next Macdougal though. Position players are very different than bullpens.
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Its never hindsight to stand by my rule that it is almost always a dumb idea for semi large market teams like the sox to buy out arbitration years. Again, why guarantee millions to save thousands. It doesnt make any sense, yes you may go year to year with a guy and cost yourself a couple hundred thousand but its way better then being strapped with macdougal for 2 or 3 extra years worth of garbage. If Teahan has a terrible 2010, your still stuck with him for 2011 and 2012 instead of easily being able to non tender him. He isnt going to explode and have a monster year and save us so much in 2012 since we got taht one extra free agent year bought out. These types of moves are for teams like the rays and marlins who need to save those extra dollars and who need to buy out free agent years on their young players. Sox dont need to do that, they have done an outstanding job of resigning their own.
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“It is almost always a dumb idea for semi large market teams like the sox to buy out arbitration years.”
I don’t necessarily disagree with you about Teahen or MacDougal because those guys just hadn’t/haven’t proven enough, but “almost always” is a bit too far… The Sox are already looking pretty smart right now for buying out Gavin Floyd’s arb years. Some of the most team-friendly contracts of recent years (Longoria especially) were arbitration buyouts. If a team projects it’s own talent well (definitely questionable for the Sox), buying out arbitration years can be a great idea.
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Sox fans are going to like Teahen. This was a good move.
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