Mark Teahen

One of the largest position battles out of the White Sox spring training camp is the starting third base job. Mark Teahen manned the hot corner for a majority of the season last year for the South Siders. He is no slouch defensively and has shown he can handle a bat. Through five seasons in Kansas City, he hit an overall .270 and 12 home runs a season.

Mark Teahen is set to come back in about a week from his minor league stint in Triple-A Charlotte after recovering from a fractured middle finger in May—not that anyone in the organization has noticed his absence with the White Sox on a tear without him. 

A question, which I'm certain manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Kenny Williams will answer incorrectly, looms.

Who do the White Sox send down for Mark Teahen?

As far as Royals fans go, I am one of the more optimistic.

I retained my family's season tickets while away at college so I wouldn't lose my childhood vantage point when the team finally returned to the postseason.

I attend upwards of 40 games a season since I moved back to the nation's bread basket in 2004.

I was so confident in General Manager Dayton Moore's abilities that I placed a bet with a buddy that Mike Jacobs would hit 30+ HR, and, given the spacious Kauffman Stadium outfield, Coco Crisp would have an OPS north of .790 with 30+ SB.*

In a town where winning is rare, player character is one element fans focus too much attention on.

For what it's worth, though, Mark Teahen is a model citizen and a pleasure to be around.

So was Allard Baird and he set the Royals back years by neglecting the farm system and encouraging incompetent scouting.

Both of these individuals were in over their heads due to the positions they were put into by this franchise.

Kenny Williams hasn’t waited long to begin reshaping the White Sox.

Rumors have been swirling around Kansas City Royals infielder Mark Teahen, with most of them seem to have Teahen going to the Boston Red Sox.

Teahen could fill the third base role vacated by the recently injured Mike Lowell. Kevin Youkilis has moved across the diamond to his natural position of third, with Jeff Bailey and Mark Kotsay platooning at first.

If Lowell's laid up for an extended amount of time, Teahen can play both first and third, and provide a decent bat in the lineup. And when Lowell does return from his hip injury, Teahen would be a great bat off the bench.

My reaction to yesterday's Yuniesky Betancourt trade was pretty similar to the reaction most people had.

"Wow, Dayton Moore is a terrible GM. Thank God I'm not a Royals fan."

There are just so many things wrong with the trade.

The first error in judgment, the one most often pointed out by others, is that Betancourt is a bad player offensively and defensively. He's just another bad shortstop to add to Willie Bloomquist and Tony Pena Jr. While he may be an upgrade, he's certainly not a starter. He may not even be a big-league-caliber player at this point.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that the Kansas City Royals "do not seem terribly inclined" to deal away Mark Teahen.

Now, I being a huge Royals fan am kind of split on this subject. I like Mark Teahen; he might be my favorite Royals player. But he's not an All-Star and most likely won't be.

In part two of my series of struggling franchises trying to find their way back to the top, I will look into the Kansas City Royals.

Unlike Baltimore, the Royals have had a .500 season (83-79 in 2003) within the last decade. The drawback, though, are the four seasons of 100+ losses (2002, 2004-2006).  Fortunately for Royals fans, Kansas City did not have a fourth-straight 100+ loss season in 2007. 

Kansas City entered the 2009 season with high hopes.

Despite his recent hot streat, rumors have been swirling about the Red Sox' desire to replace David Ortiz.

JJ Hardy, Jeff Francouer, Hanley Ramirez and Adam Dunn's names have been tossed around, but one name that's less famous is Chris Davis. Davis has been knocking the stuffing out of the ball in 59 games.