Baltimore Orioles acquire Taylor Teagarden from Texas Rangers

In a minor move, the Baltimore Orioles acquired their new backup catcher from the Texas Rangers; Taylor Teagarden. With Mike Napoli firmly entrenched as the team’s star catcher, Teagarden obviously became even more expendable. The Rangers acquired Randy Henry and a PTBN, so it becomes time to break down this minor deal. This is the third catcher-related MLB move that I have covered today, and this one was by far the most minor. However, even the small moves deserve some attention and can be interesting to look at.

Teagarden is the definition of a replacement-level catcher, and that’s all the Orioles really wanted and needed in this deal. They just wanted to acquire a player who can adequately back-up the improving Matt Wieters. The prospect that Baltimore gave up in this trade, Randy Henry, is a low-profile pitcher who tossed 52.2 combined innings in Class A and A+ last season. Henry is currently in the bullpen and rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and some say that he has the chance to break into the Majors as a decent contributor in the ‘pen.

Teagarden is widely regarded as a bust and rightfully so. He has been worth just 1.7 WAR over his career which has spanned just 392 plate appearances. He is a poor hitter who has a career wRC+ of 78, although he is undoubtedly superior to Jeff Mathis. Teagarden is a mediocre base-runner, however he is an above-average defensive player; but that’s really the only legit asset that he provides to a ballclub. He should be a mediocre backup who will receive minimal playing time, and it sure beats spending money to sign a scrub veteran such as Jason Varitek (who they were reportedly interested in). I mean, Varitek is older and is even worse offensively and overall.

This move doesn’t solve much for the Orioles, and I feel really bad for the lack of talent that new GM Dan Duquette has to work with. However, this is what he signed up for, and the rebuilding process that he is in. If the Orioles somehow turn things around within even the next five seasons, Duquette should automatically make the Hall of Fame. Anyway, the Orioles gave up nothing and didn’t really get that much overall. Teagarden is a replacement player who strikes out way too much to be a legit hitter in the Bigs. He actually has better power than most think, but a .286 OBP shows us that he is a poor player overall who cannot make contact with pitches and almost always strikes out.

The Rangers received two prospects in this, and they basically traded a replacement player for two wild card players. That’s a pretty good deal in my eyes, and I think the Rangers “won” this deal. However, the O’s got a decent deal themselves by acquiring the backup catcher they wanted and did so without giving up anything that was remotely of value to them. The Orioles also did not have a second catcher on the roster, so the Teagarden signing gives them a guy with Major League experience- albeit not exactly good experience- who can step in if *knock on wood* solid starter Matt Wieters goes down. The chances that Randy Henry even makes it to the Big Leagues are slim, but it will be interesting to see who the player-to-be-named is.