Mark Teahen to the White Sox: Where's the Upside?

Are the trade winds 'brewin in Chicago? You be the judge:

"While the Yankees and Phillies continued to wage their World Series battle Wednesday night, the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals were making a trade.

The Daily News learned the White Sox have agreed to send second baseman Chris Getz and third baseman Josh Fields to the Royals for Mark Teahen, who is expected to replace Jermaine Dye as Chicago's right fielder.

Teahen hit .271 with 12 homers and 50 RBI for the Royals in '09, but in 77 games lifetime against the White Sox he has batted .277 with 12 homers and 41 RBI, which may explain why they wanted him on their side."

There is one word that comes to mind when talking about this trade: upside.

From the Royals perspective, there is plenty of upside in this deal. GM Dayton Moore traded away a mediocre player with a rising price tag for two inexpensive players, who are under team control for the foreseeable future and actually have some talent. Chris Getz was the White Sox starting second baseman this season and has a lifetime OBP in the minors of .380. And it was just a few years ago that Josh Fields was one of the White Sox best prospects and remember that in 2007, Fields hit 23 home runs for the White Sox.

However, I'm struggling to comprehend where White Sox GM Kenny Williams sees the upside in this deal for his team. At this stage in his career, Mark Teahen is what he is: a mediocre hitter with some pop, who can play a average right field. Teahen has never developed in the OBP force that he was projected to become and his batting average has been on the decline since 2006. In addition, Teahen does not seem to be an adequate fit to replace Jermaine Dye's bat in right field, even though his defense is vastly superior to Dye's. And finally, Teahen will probably earn more than $4 million dollars in arbitration this season, which would actually make him a candidate to be non tendered. According to fangraphs, Teahen has not been worth more than $1.3 million in either of the past two seasons.

So until something official comes down, I have a tough time believing this deal as constructed. This deal would seem to greatly benefit the Royals, but it does not look like a high upside trade that Kenny Williams would typically make.

Thoughts?

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