Darren Oliver Signing Official, Mark Teahen DFAed

by Minor Leaguer on Jan 9, 2012 12:32 PM EST

ARLINGTON TX - OCTOBER 31: Darren Oliver #28 of the Texas Rangers pitches against the San Francisco Giants in Game Four of the 2010 MLB World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on October 31 2010 in Arlington Texas. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Blue Jays have officially signed 41-year old Darren Oliver to a one year contract for 2012 worth $4.0 million. The contract also includes a club option for $3.0 million in 2013, with a $0.5 million buyout. Darren's agent is former Jay Jeff Frye, who is probably best remembered for hitting a cycle on August 17, 2001. Coincidentally, the pitcher tagged for the loss in that game was none other than Darren Oliver, who started for the Texas Rangers. Darren was a modified type B free agent, meaning that the Jays will not need to forfeit any picks for this signing.

In order to free up a spot on the 40-man roster, veteran infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen (affectionately known around here as "Coffeecock") was designated for assignment. In his brief time in Toronto (27 games) he hit .190/.261/.286 over 47 plate apperances. He sent a nice parting note through his Twitter account:

BlueJays are a class org. Players & Coaches r great & Alex A is a man of his word. Excited 4 bigger role elsewhere but thankful 4 time n TO

I hope he finds a Major League team to play on next year and wish him all the best.

Thanks to highvoltagerob for posting his Fanshot.

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Teahen's Twitter Post

I don’t know how many MLB players follow other players’ twitter accounts, but comments like the one Teahen put out go a long way in building a team’s reputation. Hope things like this help make players want to come play in TO!!

by ballaman10 on Jan 9, 2012 12:58 PM EST reply actions 3 recs

Mark Teahen … designated for assignment

Woohoo! As usual, AA is right on the ball.

by DavidLondon on Jan 9, 2012 1:00 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Great move

The Teahen DFA, I mean. Addition by subtraction!

Blogging about the Toronto Blue Jays at Bluebird Banter

by Woodman663 on Jan 9, 2012 1:10 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

are you saying

The blue jays would be better off with a 24 man roster than a 25 man with Teahen?

by brett w on Jan 9, 2012 1:17 PM EST up reply actions

No

but perhaps better with a replacement level player to fill in for Teahen (who is worse than replacement level).

by Playoffs!!!!1 on Jan 9, 2012 1:19 PM EST up reply actions

perhaps not

but Oliver instead of Teahen – heck yes!

Blogging about the Toronto Blue Jays at Bluebird Banter

by Woodman663 on Jan 9, 2012 1:51 PM EST up reply actions

Jeff Frye's cycle

Wow I’m old, that happened in 2001? What I’ll always remember about that is Frye needed a single to complete the cycle and he hit one all the way to the wall, could have easily legged out a double but stopped at 1st. Then Kelly Gruber (only other Jay to hit for the cycle) came onto the field and congratulated him.

by shuswapslugger on Jan 9, 2012 1:11 PM EST reply actions

Yeah I remember that too

What always confused me was who gave Gruber permission to go on the field? He did an interview before the game but was sitting in the stands essentially as a fan. It was awesome that he went out there, but I still think security should have tackled him.

by brett w on Jan 9, 2012 1:21 PM EST up reply actions

I was at that game actually. They kept on showing Gruber on the Jumbotron after Frye’s 2B, 3B, and HR. Umps called time and Gruber was allowed to come out.

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by Minor Leaguer on Jan 9, 2012 1:34 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Kelly Gruber has keys to the dome.

Must be nice. He drinks for free too I bet.

thisrighthere!

http://www.facebook.com/Bluebirdbanter

by TonyFernandezSavedMyLife on Jan 9, 2012 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah I was at that game too, Gruber came out through the dugout so not exactly belligerent fan styles… also IIRC, Frye was two thirds of the way to second when everyone including 1B coach were screaming “NOOOO, STOPPPPPP”. Also AROD hit 1 or 2 home runs, jerk.

by Dr_Furious on Jan 9, 2012 4:29 PM EST up reply actions

Why was Teahen referred to as

Coffeecock?

I am the one who knocks.

by outoforder87 on Jan 9, 2012 1:24 PM EST reply actions

Tea —> Coffee
Hen —> Cock
Was made up because people kept on spelling it “Teahan”. But I guess it didn’t help as a mnemonic.

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by Minor Leaguer on Jan 9, 2012 1:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Well

When you put it that way, it’s incredibly intuitive!

by MjwW on Jan 9, 2012 1:40 PM EST up reply actions

I posted elsewhere...

…that I believed Mark’s career was damaged by trying to turn a George Brett type of hitter (high average, with a lot of doubles) into a slugger. That messed up is swing as he tried to upper cut the ball for power. I believe this started in the minor league system in Oakland, and continued in KC, which should have known better.

Here’s an article from the NYT Magazine seven years ago, written by Michael Lewis. One of the featured subjects in the article is our former #20.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24BASEBALL.html

When I look at what has happened to left handed hitters on the Jays over the past few years (Overbay, Lind, Snider) I see a disturbing trend toward emphasizing the HR power over getting hits and OBA. I sometimes question whether George Brett would be able to have the great career had if he were starting out today. They’’d probably try to make him a power hitter (because everyone says “a third baseman has to hit for power”) and he’d be DFA’d by the time he was 28.

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Jan 9, 2012 1:51 PM EST reply actions

did it really make Overbay worse though?

Age could easily have caught up to him.

Blogging about the Toronto Blue Jays at Bluebird Banter

by Woodman663 on Jan 9, 2012 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

And the wrist injury

He never seemed t have the same gap power after that. He used to be a 50 doubles guy every year, very sweet swing.

by MjwW on Jan 9, 2012 1:58 PM EST up reply actions

I agree that the wrist injury...

…likely affected his career, but I also think there was always some pressure, even indirect or subtle, to generate more power. I don’t think his OBA was ever appreciated by the fan base as much as it should have been.

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Jan 9, 2012 2:19 PM EST up reply actions

Some Related Ephemera

Oliver is now the oldest on the 40 man, and to make room the Jays removed the 4th oldest player in Teahen (behind only Bautista, Davis and McCoy; Janssen is 11 days younger).

That switch alone however added 3988 days of age to the 40 man, or 99.7 days per player.

The CanCon on the 40 man is now down to Lawrie and Magusson (5%), it peaked when Loewen and Teahen were also on (briefly), or somewhere North of 7.5% and South of 10%.

by MjwW on Jan 9, 2012 3:56 PM EST reply actions