Cody Ransom To Replace A-Rod, but What about Mark Teahen?

With Alex Rodriguez out, even for just six to nine weeks, a lot of attention has been placed on what the Yankees will do in his absence, but as of right now Cody Ransom seems to be the answer.

Manager Joe Girardi shot down the idea to move Robinson Cano, Xavier Nady, or Mark Teixeira, who came up as a third baseman, to the hot corner. He even shot down the idea that they could use Angel Berroa there.

No it appears that for the four to six weeks that A-Rod will be out during the season the Yankees are going to go with Ransom.

“I believe that that he can handle it, I do,” Girardi said. “Time will tell. He’s going to get a lot of opportunities.”

At this time yesterday the Yankees had not discussed external options and rumors that they were discussing a deal involving the Royals’ Mark Teahen turned out to be false.

It does appear that they are open to at least checking out external options, but it seems doubtful, at least for now, that any deals will get done.

“If something makes sense that you run into, I think we’ll gravitate to it,” Cashman said. “But it’s hard to run into things that make sense.”

Teahen does seem to make sense in a few ways, though. The Royals don’t exactly have a spot in which to use him and he would be a great short-term solution to A-Rod's absence. Then upon A-Rod’s return, Teahen would move to the bench to provide the Yankees with a veteran option off the bench in the model of the 1996 Yankees.

If you are wondering how he would fit on the Yankees, the good people over at River Ave Blues have already discussed a some possibilities:

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“Despite the lack of definitive playing time for Teahen beyond April, he’d immediately give the Yankees one of the most formidable benches in the league. Say Nick Swisher wins the RF job. The Yanks would then have Nady as a big righty on the bench and Teahen as a big lefty. Ransom and Molina would fill the other two bench spots. Both Swisher and Damon could cover center in the late innings, so there would be little hesitation to pinch hit for Melky or Gardner.”

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Of course this would require Brian Cashman to address the bench, which is something he has always been slow to do.

Teahen had modest numbers in 2008 as he hit .255 with a .313 OBP, .402 SLG, .715 OPS., but he has potential as he hit .290 with a .357 OBP, .517 SLG, and .874 OPS just two years ago. He’s also just 27 years old, which makes me believe that he is capable of returning closer to those numbers in the future.