by The GM on August 21 at 12:49PM
So far, I have given you a look back at Eric Byrnes, Jeremy Bonderman, Aaron Harang, and Andre Ethier. I am now going to give you the final piece to this series. The player that I look back at and think about changing the face of the franchise is Mark Teahen.Mark Teahen was drafted in the 39th round in 2002. He was a development project when he was drafted, but showed great work ethic and that he had a ton of potential. During the 2004 season, Oakland, Kansas City, and Houston performed a three team trade that ended up sending Mark Teahen, Mike Wood, and John Buck to the Royals, Carlos Beltran to Houston, and Octavio Dotel to the A's. The move was made to get Dotel in as the closer to help for a second half playoff run and so that Kansas City could get something out of Beltran before he bolted for free-agency.
His rookie season in 2005 was not that great, but who on the Royals was knocking the cover off the ball that year? He ended the season hitting .246 with seven homers and 55 rbi. The next season was much better for the young third baseman. He batted .290 for the year while increasing his power numbers to 18 hr and 69 rbi. He also stole 10 bases that year.
This year has been a season of change for Teahen. He was moved into right field to make room for rookie, Alex Gordon. While his home run total is down, he has continued to hit for a nice average. Hitting .284, he has 6 round trippers and 52 rbi. He has also set a new career high in stolen bases with 11. One problem I see with his batting right now, is that he still is striking out way too much. He struck out 107 times his rookie season and has now been "K'd" 108 times so far this year. Teahen is still learning himself and the game, I look for him to decrease this total in the future.
I like to look back at things and imagine what could have been. I envision Oakland having an outfield of Travis Buck, Eric Byrnes, and Andre Ethier. The infield would be Eric Chavez, a healthy Bobby Crosby, Mark Ellis and Nick Swisher/Mark Teahen splitting time at first base and designated hitter.
The pitching rotation would be Dan Haren, a healthy Rich Harden, Jeremy Bonderman, Aaron Harang, and Joe Blanton. With four potential staff aces in the rotation, Oakland would be even more dominant than when the Big Three of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito were in A's uniforms.
Billy Beane is very good at what he does, but sometimes I wonder if he gives up on players too early. Like they say, hindsight is 20/20!
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