The trade for Mark Teahen will be my first forray into writing about the White Sox, but hey it is Talking CHICAGO Baseball so I figured I'd weigh in. Teahen is a guy I wanted badly for the Cubs while Mike Fontenot was puttering away at third and sucking up at bats. I was pretty sure Jim Hendry would make a play for him, if for nothing else than to appease the portion of the fan base that was convinced an uber-sub (even if it wasn't DeRosa) was what would fix the Cubs. Much like Jake Peavy, Teahen in the end wound up in Chicago, just not on the side of town he was connected to through rumors.

This is another testament to Kenny Williams and his ability to keep what he's doing under wraps. I don't follow the Sox nearly as close as I should (and I could be wrong) but I haven't seen them and Teahen connected at all leading up to today. The same went for Peavy (the first time) and Griffey the year before. Kenny's ability to work like that shouldn't be undervalued, heck Kevin Towers admitted the media surge around "Peavy to the Cubs" rumors hurt the deal's chances. How good of a deal is this for the Sox? Here are my observations:

- As a tribute to Ken and his favorite bands: am I only one who thinks Teahen bears a striking resemblance to Angel and Airwaves'/Blink 182's Tom Delonge? Take a look.

- As obvious as it is, Chris Getz was the focal point of the deal from the Sox perspective. You couldn't find a more expandable player than Josh Fields with his trade demands and what Gordon Beckham showed at third.

- The deal looks to actually make sense for both teams. Teahen gives the Sox some flexibility in not only what they do as the offseason goes on, but when the season starts as well. They have a lot of options in terms of moving guys around and he just adds to that. Depending on what is best for the team, Alexei Ramirez could play center, Beckham could play short, Carlos Quentin could DH, and so on. Teahen has started at every position except catcher and short in his career, and though he hasn't played good defense at any of them except first, the experience is still there. For the Royals, Fields gives them insurance for the injured, under-performing Alex Gordon, and it never hurts to take a chance on guy who once hit 27 HR's in a season. What role Getz figures to play in the KC is a mystery to me. Alberto Callaspo had a great 2009, is the same age as Getz and is a switch hitter. Maybe they will try him out at short, because even though he hasn't done in the majors, he probably is upgrade over the concrete-gloved and footed Yuniesky Betancourt. The bottom line is that it never hurts to add talent and depth to the system, and Getz certainly has shown he can contribue as a major leaguer.

- Getz (.261/.324) and Teahen (.271/.325) posted very similar BA/OBP numbers last year. The main offensive trade-off is losing Getz's baserunning (25/27 SB) and adding Teahan's power (+.61 slugging, +10 HR's, +16 2B's). Clearly Getz is younger and could develop, but his ceiling can't be much higher than what Teahen has already established himself as.

Photos courtesy adityapramadan.com and royals.mlblogs.com.

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