How the White Sox can properly utilize Mark Teahen

It's not by keeping him out of the lineup and off the field, believe it or not.

With Scott Linebrink's discharge to Atlanta, Mark Teahen has become the main whipping boy for the 2011 White Sox—a role he earned with abhorrent defense and below-average offense for the 2010 Sox.

But, believe it or not, Teahen actually has a little bit of value to the White Sox—if used properly, of course. And it's a pretty simple solution.

Mark Teahen should not see a single plate appearance against a left-hander in 2010.

In 221 plate appearances against righties in 2010, Teahen actually was a tick above average offensively. He posted a .276/.342/.418 slash line with a .336 wOBA, which came out to a 104 wRC+ (100 is average).

Unfortunately for Teahen, 41 plate appearances against left-handers brought his production from the average range to the well-below-average range.

Forty-one plate appearances is hardly a large sample size, so keep in mind that Teahen probably isn't as bad as these numbers indicate. He actually had a better wOBA against lefties than righties in 2009 with Kansas City (although both numbers were below average).

But this line is laughable: .162/.244/.169 (a .169 slugging percentage!), a .208 wOBA, and a 17 wRC+. For reference, Alex Rios had a 30 wRC+ with the White Sox in 2009. That's, uh, not good.

Teahen had a grand total of one extra-base hit against left-handers in 2010. His walk and strikeout rates were roughly the same against lefties and righties, but that one extra-base hit led his ISO to sit at .027 against southpaws. Again, for reference, Juan Pierre had a .041 ISO with the White Sox in 2010.

As I mentioned before, Teahen isn't that bad against lefties. With more opportunities, those numbers would improve. But it wouldn't be enough to justify letting Teahen face left-handers.

The most logical option for Teahen's use would be to spell Carlos Quentin in right field every so often. Quentin inevitably will need a bunch of days off this season, and Teahen should be in line to fill in for a few of those games—especially if the right-handed Brent Lillibridge beats out the left-handed Alejandro de Aza for the final spot on the roster in spring training.

Lillibridge was actually worse against right-handers (.201 wOBA, 12 wRC+) than Teahen was against left-handers in 2010, so hopefully, Teahen would be the guy to fill in for Quentin if a righty's on the mound.

The White Sox won't see much, if any, of a defensive improvement/dropff from Teahen to Quentin in right field. That's in contrast to third base, where the defensive dropoff from Brent Morel to Teahen would be precipitous. Better to use Omar Vizquel at third if Morel needs a day off (that is, of course, assuming Morel is the team's starting third baseman—which seems a fairly safe assumption, but it isn't a lock).

Unfortunately, trying to pick a favorable spot for Teahen to fill in doesn't yield a very positive outlook.

The thought I had was that the Sox could use Teahen to give Quentin a break against right-handers with a particularly nasty slider, a pitch against which Quentin has never been above average in his career. I was thinking a pitcher along the lines of Detroit's Max Scherzer, who boasts a great slider to go along with a fastball and changeup that rate about average.

But, like Quentin, Teahen has never been above average against sliders in his career. That's not a product of left-handers pouring slider after slider his way, as in 2010, Teahen swung and missed at a higher percentage of sliders from righties (18.9 percent whiff rate) than left-handers (11.3 percent)

So any use of Teahen wouldn't be strategically based on matchups. Instead, Teahen's playing time should be at the mercy of Quentin's stamina.

Teahen will be overpaid in 2011, but he doesn't have to be worthless.

*****

• Jim has some thoughts on ZIPS' 2011 projections for the White Sox.
• James says the White Sox's pursuit of Freddy Garcia means Chris Sale will pitch out of the bullpen this season.
• Brett Ballantini's early prediction has the White Sox winning 93 games and the division title. I'd be okay with that.
• Teahen's determined to recapture the starting third base role for 2011, which, given his defensive issues, doesn't seem likely. But hey, it doesn't hurt to try.
• Baseball Intellect released their top 15 White Sox prospect list(s): 1-5, 6-15. Chris Sale (B+/A-), Brent Morel (B-), and Jared Mitchell (B-) came in as the top three.