In addition to confirming reports which emerged last night that said the Washington Nationals had signed veteran outfielder Rick Ankiel to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, the Nats also announced this afternoon that they'd inked 30-year-old, 7-year veteran infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen to a minor league deal.
@NationalsPR: "#Nationals have agreed to terms w/ OF Rick Ankiel and INF/OF Mark Teahen on minor-league contracts that include Spring Training invites."
Teahen, a member of the so-called "Moneyball" draft class of 2002, was selected by the Oakland A's with a supplemental pick after the 1st Round of that year's draft. The A's had received the pick in return for losing Johnny Damon to the Red Sox when he signed with Boston as a free agent in December of 2001.
Teahen, a Redlands, California-born left-handed hitting utility man spent just two seasons in Oakland's system before he was dealt to Kansas City as part of the three-team trade that sent Octavio Dotel to the A's and Carlos Beltran to the Houston Astros. Teahen played just 78 games total in 2011, 51 with the White Sox and 27 with the Blue Jays after Toronto acquired him in the deal that momentarily got them Edwin Jackson (who was subsequently flipped). The Jays released Teahen earlier this winter. In 78 games and 177 plate appearances in 2011, Teahen had a .200/.273/.300 slash with four doubles and four home runs. In 831 games and 3,171 career PA's, Teahen has a .267/.327/.409 line. Competition for Stephen Lombardozzi?
0 recs | 31 comments
by definition, are these not deck chairs on a doomed ocean liner?
cat daddy3000 - February 6, 2012
not that the Nats are doomed…………..maybe just used lawn furniture that people keep sitting out on the curb and others pick through and haul home….until they put it out on their curb…
cat daddy3000 - February 6, 2012
just watched moneyball night before last
shouldnt his obp be higher? or is that why he didnt last in oakland?
TJL - February 6, 2012
Well he was the bat in the Beltran deal
clearly he was coveted and didn’t live up to his expectations. left handed bat, can’t hurt I guess. we’ll see if he makes the team.
Bsullivan - February 6, 2012
he kind of is a Ryan Zimmerman Doppleganger
but without the talent
Bsullivan - February 6, 2012
we need Long Term Low Risk High Reward Moves like ......
some real low risk high reward moves could be made for Andres torres(16 hr’s 42 doubles 27sb’s in 2010),john mayberry jr(he hits bombs),chris hiesey(18 hr’s in 200 ab’s,he is also blocked by stubbs),jon jay,gerrardo parra,and nate schierholtz
by the way bourjos has a chronic hip injury,i foresee his average declining drastically when he cant hit infield singles
Rob"t.plush"Bowden - February 6, 2012
I'm shocked someone wants Morgan's "alter ego" business as their nickname!
William.Hatheway - February 6, 2012
theres a reason
im not going to put my real name because i dont want any of my friends to know im this big of a baseball nerd,im a high school baseball player who just had knee surgery so ill be sitting around bieng lazy for awhile,but as far as ex nats go i was a huge fan of dukes,pena,morgan,and willingham
Rob"t.plush"Bowden - February 6, 2012
Torres isn't really "high reward"
He’s 34, and that 16 HR season was a complete anomaly (11 HRs in his 850+ other MLB PAs). I don’t know anything about the other guys you mentioned, so I’ll check them out, though…
William.Hatheway - February 6, 2012
Torres, Mayberry, Hiesey, Jay, and Parra arent avalible
Schierholtz just isnt that good
jeff550 - February 6, 2012
the thing about torres is
first ill admit it,im a high school baseball player(im out this season though-knee surgery) whos been helped by andres torres personal hitting coach chris o leary.type in andres torres and chris o leary and youll find out how chris o leary began working with him in 08 and how it changed his career.look at torres stats post 08.i know torres would be an obvious stopgap,but he learned swing mechanics and his influence might be good on younger players, before 08 he said he was more of a track star playing baseball now hes a baseball player,heres the link his hitting coach posted after helping him from 08 on
http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Hitting/RethinkingHitting/Essays/MyExperienceWithAndresTorres.html
and here is the si article talking about his turnaround
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_lemire/10/11/andres.torres/index.html
his career changed when he started to watch videos of and copy pujols swing,i feel other nats players should do the same,i dont believe in players helping players but torres might be an exception
Rob"t.plush"Bowden - February 6, 2012
interesting... nice perspective, even if I'm not sure I'd want him at age 34 your info is intriguing
William.Hatheway - February 6, 2012
i think the nats could get heisey or mayberry jr if they wanted
heiseys 18 hrs in 200 abs makes me think he could be the 2nd coming of mike morse,the reds have stubbs,playing center so i think they’d trade heisey for lannan,detwiler,lombordozzi,ect. what the hell,the could probabaly get carlos gonzalez for
Rob"t.plush"Bowden - February 6, 2012
Forget the thing i posted above,typos
i was trying to say the could get carlos(cargo)gonzalez for morse,lannan,purke(we pay the salary,goodwin,eury perez,flores and moore
Rob"t.plush"Bowden - February 6, 2012
Why on earth would the Nationals trade 7 players for one guy?
And remember, if you trade that many people another cost for the other team is going to be the players they have to cut in order to make room on their 40 man roster …
d_c_guy - February 6, 2012
Rockies would turn that down for lack of long term star potential
Morse is old, Lannan is Lannan, Purke is a giant?, Goodwin is a long way away, Eury is a slap hitter, Flores is unproven, and Moore is old/strikes out to much. Nats wouldnt offer that, and Rockies wouldnt accept it
jeff550 - February 6, 2012
Yup. Competition for Lombo. But more importantly, another veteran to throw into the mix in the team’s quest to put together a more reliable bench then they’ve had in seasons past. How many times last season did a game come down to someone coming off the bench and the best we had to throw out there was Alex Cora or Brian Bixler or… Matt Stairs? Are any of these guys they’ve signed better than those two? Maybe.
I was kinda hoping they’d bring Gomes back. Gotta love that attitude. I’m still telling people about that slide into home.
Jeff T - February 6, 2012
I thought Nix was a good platoon bat who got exposed with too much starter time
and would have liked to have him back. Plus, I was at a game when he saved Lannan’s ass against the Phil’s…
William.Hatheway - February 6, 2012
I liked Nix too as a bench bat
But you can’t blame him for taking a 2-year deal. No harm in taking fliers on minor-league deals to fill that role.
rfk428 - February 6, 2012 via iPhone app
Nix was an above average stopgap starter until he played hurt
but does anybody want to argue with Rizzo for not matching the two-year deal?
ParkShark - February 7, 2012
I dont think they'd be competing because Teahen is a big guy, regulated to corner positions.
I think he might have played a little 2nd, but i imagine those days are leaving him.
Bsullivan - February 6, 2012
I posted elsewhere, but
The Royals tried to convert him to a 2B, with ugly results. He can play the corner IF and OF positions (and a little CF). Basically UFR/150-neutral for OF and 1B, and -12.4 UZR/150 for 3B.
jbg2772 - February 6, 2012
I think he's seen more as a bat than where he plays
But I think he’ll start the year in the minors.
rfk428 - February 6, 2012 via iPhone app
Blake DeWitt was just DFAd by the Cubs;
he might have been a better pickup than Teahan.
mstomper - February 6, 2012
I was just thinking that
jeff550 - February 6, 2012
me three
though DeWitt is owed about a million by whatever team picks him up, so who knows..
dc Roach - February 6, 2012
Is this the squad we're taking to Spring Training?
If you believe Boras, the Nats were going to exhaust their options on the trade market for a CF before making a call on Ankiel. And thus, the signing of Ankiel (and increased chatter about Harper) would seem to indicate no trades are in the works for a CF and the plan is for Ankiel/Bernadina/Cameron/Werth to handle the position. Lannan for Bourjos (hip injury or not) is nuts. Fangraphs had a nice laugh about it. I wouldn’t mind going after Byrd but my guess is the Cubs will hang onto him until the Cespedes thing plays out. Considering the market for Gurhrie, it probably makes more sense to hang onto Lannan thru Spring Training. That also covers us in the event of injury. If everyone is healthy, you move Lannan on the eve of the season to whoever needs a 5th starter most.
The pitching staff is set with:
Gio
Strasburg
JZ
EJax
Wang
Storen
Clippard
Lidge
Burnett
HRod
Gorzo
Detwiler
7 of the 8 everyday positions are set, plus Flores and DLR, and I would guess Ankiel and Cameron. So that only leaves two spots up for grabs for everybody else.
My, how times have changed.
rfk428 - February 6, 2012 via iPhone app
While we're handing out minor league contracts,
how about signing Aaron Miles in case Lombardozzi goes back down to AAA?
mstomper - February 6, 2012
can't believe no one's regretted trading Peacock, now that we have Teahen...
oh, what could have been…
cat daddy3000 - February 6, 2012
We need a center fielder.......
Trade for Adam Jones…..Ankiel is not a good enough hitter to play the position on a regular basis. Lannan for Adam Jones. The Orioles need good starting pitching. Go for it, Rizzo!!!!!
hocke - February 7, 2012
Clubhouse Confidential rated Ankiel and Gomez
as best defensive CFs last year. They each saved 16 runs.
gengreen17 - February 7, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Federal Baseball to post a comment.