Perhaps I am jaded or just overly focused on the Royals to the exclusion of all other teams.    Maybe I simply cannot forgive Mark Teahen for teasing us with that sensational summer of 2006 - the likes of which he has never come close to since.    That Alex Gordon has yet to become a superstar or even average for that matter, has not helped my perspective anyway.

Whatever the reason, as I began my comparision of the American League Central third basemen, I did not expect the offensive production numbers to look like this:

That's right, 99 games of Mark Teahen, 48 of Alex Gordon and 11 of Alex Callaspo (plus a smattering of others) contributed to the Royals leading the division in all five offensive categories in the table above.  That may be more of an indictment of the Central's third sackers than a plus for the Royals.

Now for defense:

I have never been a fan of Teahen's defense at the hot corner - although it visually improved after his shoulder surgery at the end of 2006.   For the record his UZR/150 in 2005 was -17.6, 2006 +0.4, 2008 (just 19 games) -23.9.  Hence, no real surprise about his negative rating once more in 2009.

After posting a nice +7.9 in his rookie season, Gordon regressed to -3.6 in 2008 and posted virtually the same mark this past season.

As for Callaspo, I included him as there has been some rumblings about the Royals moving Callaspo to third, Gordon to first, Butler to DH and someone (Aviles/FA) to second.   Obviously eleven games is not a big enough sample to put much stock in that ranking and such a move ignores the fact that Alberto Callaspo is a giant space cadet on defense (physical shortcomings aside).   Still, I included Alberto because I think such a move might be under actual consideration.

If the Twins resign Joe Crede AND he stays healthy, he is an obvious defensive plus on the diamond and certainly can hit enough to keep up with the current production within the division.   Ditto for Brandon Inge in Detroit.

The guy who could blow the curve is Chicago's Gordon Beckham, who posted an .808 OPS this season and is likely to improve his defensive rating as he gains experience at third.

Solution

2009 was supposed to be Alex Gordon's breakout season only to see him derailed by injuries and somewhat rushed (in my opinion) rehabilitation and then a string of simply bad baseball upon his return.   From the Royals' perspective, you have to just write 2009 off as a non-event and treat 2010 as Alex's true third season.

As an organization, they cannot give up on Gordon without giving him one more healthy year to prove he can at least partially attain the immense potential most saw when he was drafted second overall back in 2005.   They would be selling low to try and trade him and a position change would introduce one more variable into an already murky equation.

For at least the first half of 2010, the Royals need to put Gordon at third base, bat him sixth or seventh and see what happens.   Come July, if Aviles is healthy and productive and Gordon still a negative in the field, then they could entertain moving Callaspo (or Aviles for that matter) to third and Gordon over to first.

There is nothing exciting about the 'one more year' tactic, but it is the right move for the Royals at this position.

Comments

Thomas

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They will always be waiting on Gordon to have a healthy year so they can see what he can do. It'll never happen. The guy's muscles, ligaments, and tendons are overly tight because of too much weight training, and he will always break down during the season. Eventually they'll realize they've wasted 5-6 years waiting on Gordon to live up to his potential, and have nothing to show for it. Teahen or Callaspo or someone else will always have more than half the games at 3B as long as Gordon is still on the roster.

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 08:13

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CollininCalifornia

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Quote:

The guy's muscles, ligaments, and tendons are overly tight because of too much weight training, and he will always break down during the season.

what are you talking about? If you have some sort of evidence or proof, then great. But it sounds like a wild prediction. I think weight training is a good thing for baseball players to do... it doesn't add to them getting hurt more often.

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 09:03

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CollininCalifornia

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That Alex Gordon has yet to become a superstar or even average for that matter, has not helped my perspective anyway.

In his rookie year, Alex posted a 2.1 WAR (thanks to his defense) and in 2008, he had a 2.6 WAR campaign thanks to his 110 OPS+. Are those superstar numbers? No. Are they average? Yes... above average, even. After Alex was sent down to Triple-A he came up in September and managed a respectable line in 20 games: .279/.359/.471. Small sample size, i know. But what if he can reproduce that over 140-150 games next year? Can we finally stop saying he's below average?

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 09:07

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Clark Fosler

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Maybe average, Collin, maybe. There were 154 players that qualified for the batting title this year and a 2.6 WAR from Gordon (had he put up that number and stayed healthy all year) would have tied him for 87th. Depends on how you look at WAR, but in my mind, that makes him a tick below average, but close enough to qualify as average overall.

Perhaps the real problem with Gordon is that the Royals simply NEED him to be well above average.

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 15:41

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CollininCalifornia

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touché.

food for thought: if Gordon can keep a .830 OPS in 2010 (as he did in Sept/Oct 2009) and be a 0.0 UZR/150 fielder, he'd rank somewhere between Scott Rolen and David Wright in WAR in 2009... right in the middle of the pack.

I think a .830 OPS is a reasonable expectation from Gordon and a 0.0 UZR/150 is attainable with a healthy hip. What do you think?

Thursday 22 October 2009, 09:07

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Toby V

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Seems to me like Teahen and Gordon have the same problems and I'm sure you can point to some others on this team. Both Teahen and Gordon hit decent when they try to go opposite field or just hit line drives. But, they both get into these long, long periods of trying to pull the ball deep. I think Butler's big turn around this year came when he realized to just go with the pitch and quit trying to do too much with it. All the sudden the power numbers came up allong with the the avg. I think Clark's point about the Royals NEED him to be well above average, is the biggest problem with this team. This teams lack of 1 or 2 stud bats in the lineup is forcing guys to do more at the plate then their abilty allows.

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 16:24

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gbewing

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Mr. Beckham appears to be poised to take over dominant 3b of the Central- for what's thats worth- everybodies prospects translate to MLB no problem except ours-get tired of other's instant success

Thursday 22 October 2009, 04:44

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GreinkeFan1

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It's a little easier to come in to the league, relax and just let your talents play out when you are introduced into a lineup featuring Quentin, Dye, Thome and Konerko than it is when you are rushed to the big leagues to be surrounded by a bunch of replacement level players (at best). Gordon has been trying to live up to the next George Brett billing all along. One of the major problems with the Royals turning their team around is that there are so many areas of need that everyone tends to focus on what the few good players we have don't do well rather than what they bring to the table. Teahen for instance came up and showed a solid .270-.290 bat with doubles power and good plate discipline. That wasn't good enough so he was sent down to learn to pull the ball, which he will never be able to do, and since then his walks have gone down every year and his strikeouts have gone up. Butler was one of the best hitters at every level of the minors, but he didn't hit for enough power, luckily he seems to have believed in himself enough to stick with his approach and not get out of his game. We should be focusing on the easy fixes rather than nitpicking the guys who are bringing positives to the table. Finding a decent hitting DH, getting corner outfielders with some pop, not employing 3 of the worst hackers in the game (Olivo, Jacobs and Betancourt)... these should all be easy fixes. Inability of the management to deal with these situations leads us as fans to focus on the shortcomings of other players because we have given up hope that the front office can solve these problems.

Thursday 22 October 2009, 07:13

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gbewing

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I assumed being the college player of the year and then the minor league player of the year would indicate he was ready- hmm guess not-

Lets start small with Alex, step 1 stop catching pop ups side saddle with 1 hand

Thursday 22 October 2009, 16:29

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kcghost

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Is the AL Central just a sinkhole of 3B's?? Man those stats are ugly.

The Gordon is a sample of the Royals luck. Everybody on the planet agreed he was the right choice at the #2 slot in the draft and he has just sucked in the majors. He is to the Royals what Todd Blackledge was to the Chiefs.

Friday 23 October 2009, 03:41

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