Texas Rangers @ Kansas City Royals Spring Training Thread (3/28)

[alnorth]

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
TEX (16-12-1 spring)	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	3	8	10	1
KC (15-11-3 spring)	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	5	10	1

Scott Feldman 5IP 4R 4ER 1BB 6K
Jimmy Gobble 0.1IP 1R 1ER 1BB 0K
Win Jason Jennings 3.2IP 0R 0ER 1BB 4K

VS



Horacio Ramirez 5IP 4R 3ER 0BB 1K
Doug Waechter 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Blown Save Jamey Wright 1.2IP 1R 1ER 1BB 1K
Loss Roman Colon 1.1IP 3R 3ER 1BB 2K

Starting Lineups

TEX

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
1. Joaquin Arias, SS
2. Michael Young, 3B
2. Travis Metcalf, 3B
3. Josh Hamilton, CF
3. Andruw Jones, CF
4. Nelson Cruz, RF
4. Brandon Boggs, pr/RF
5. Hank Blalock, 1B
5. Ian Gac, 1B
6. Marlon Byrd, DH
6. Frank Catalanotto, DH
7. David Murphy, LF
8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
8. Adam Melhuse, C
9. Omar Vizquel, SS
9. Marcus Lemon, SS/2B

KC

1. Coco Crisp, CF
1. Willie Bloomquist, CF
2. David DeJesus, LF
2. Shane Costa, LF
3. Mark Teahen, 2B
3. Alberto Callaspo, 2B
4. Jose Guillen, RF
4. Mitch Maier, RF
5. Mike Jacobs, 1B
5. Billy Butler, 1B
6. Alex Gordon, 3B
6. Luis Hernandez, 3B
7. Ryan Shealy, DH
8. Miguel Olivo, C
8. Brayan Pena, C
9. Mike Aviles, SS
9. Tony Pena Jr, SS

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

Awesome. Could be best utility guy in the majors this year I would think.

If he's going to hit like that, they'll be forced to find him a position every day.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

Awesome. Could be best utility guy in the majors this year I would think.

Teahen could still win the 2B job. The Royals seem hell-bent to give him every chance and benefit of the doubt rather than settling with Callaspo.

If it doesnt work out and his bat doesnt cool off when the season starts, then Teahen's going to be an interesting problem. His bat is too good to not be an everyday player, so the Royals would have to seriously consider starting him 4-5 out of every 6 games with a regular position of "whatever", and a lot of guys could get more rest than normal.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Teahen could still win the 2B job. The Royals seem hell-bent to give him every chance and benefit of the doubt rather than settling with Callaspo.

If it doesnt work out and his bat doesnt cool off when the season starts, then Teahen's going to be an interesting problem. His bat is too good to not be an everyday player, so the Royals would have to seriously consider starting him 4-5 out of every 6 games with a regular position of "whatever", and a lot of guys could get more rest than normal.

It's certainly an interesting problem. I want this guy to succeed.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Teahen could still win the 2B job. The Royals seem hell-bent to give him every chance and benefit of the doubt rather than settling with Callaspo.

If it doesnt work out and his bat doesnt cool off when the season starts, then Teahen's going to be an interesting problem. His bat is too good to not be an everyday player, so the Royals would have to seriously consider starting him 4-5 out of every 6 games with a regular position of "whatever", and a lot of guys could get more rest than normal.

Yeah, I haven't seen him play 2B yet so I don't know if he's got it in him yet or not. I sure hope so. That would instantly upgrade the royals immensely. Decent power hitting 2b. I kind of feel we already have guys like Aviles and Jacobs, and Gordon isn't a gold glove by guy any means, might as well throw in Teahen. As long as he can field a grounder and be agile enough to turn a double play. Get him in there.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

It's certainly an interesting problem. I want this guy to succeed.

If nothing else, I guess he now has another tool in his Swiss Army knife.

As it is, it looks like he could take over at first, second, third, left, and right, and he could effectively give Crisp a break in center field with DeJesus moving over from left. When your talking about that kind of a super-utility guy along with an occasional DH and pinch-hit/run, we should be able to give him the same number of at-bats as a regular starter.

I'm guessing in the 2010 spring training we'll try him out at catcher and shortstop before sending him to the bullpen in 2011.

[WilliamTheIrish]

As far as Teahen's ability at 2b goes. He has real trouble on the pivot. That's expected. I saw no less than half a dozen misplays on the pivot in the four games I saw. Part of it is familiarity I think, so if we have misplays early on, we'll have to live with them. Aviles is okay at SS, but he's not going to remind anybody of Mark Belanger with the glove.

As long as his bat remains steady it's a good problem.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

As far as Teahen's ability at 2b goes. He has real trouble on the pivot. That's expected. I saw no less than half a dozen misplays on the pivot in the four games I saw. Part of it is familiarity I think, so if we have misplays early on, we'll have to live with them. Aviles is okay at SS, but he's not going to remind anybody of Mark Belanger with the glove.

As long as his bat remains steady it's a good problem.

Personally, I think Aviles is a better option at 2nd than SS.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Coach

Personally, I think Aviles is a better option at 2nd than SS.

Aviles is basically shortstop by default. We have a lot of depth on this team, but nothing at the 6. If Aviles is injured and we have to bring TPJ back, we immediately become a (bad) National League team and would probably be out of luck for the division. After Greinke and Meche, Aviles is the one offensive player who we really need to stay healthy.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Aviles is basically shortstop by default. We have a lot of depth on this team, but nothing at the 6. If Aviles is injured and we have to bring TPJ back, we immediately become a (bad) National League team and would probably be out of luck for the division. After Greinke and Meche, Aviles is the one offensive player who we really need to stay healthy.

Yeah and by the looks of it he is raping spring training. I knew the guy was a decent prospect last year, but he kind of came out of no where. I hope extra scouting by other teams on him this year doesn't make him less effective.

[alnorth]

Rotoworld on Teahen:

Mark Teahen tripled and singled in his three at-bats Saturday against the Rangers.

It's ridiculous just how hot Teahen is, and unless it suddenly falls apart for him over the next week, he's going to have to be in the Opening Day lineup, even if it's as the game's worst defensive second baseman. He's hitting .500/.553/1.000 with five homers in 42 at-bats. He's even 3-for-3 stealing bases.