KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Trimming salary in a 2-for-1 deal, the Kansas City Royals sent infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen to Chicago for two players Friday and declined options on three others, including last season’s top home run hitter.

Teahen, who had played infield and outfield at various times without complaint, was traded for infielders Chris Getz and Josh Fields. After being moved out of his third base spot to make room for heralded newcomer Alex Gordon, Teahen had struggled to find a position, going from first base to the two corner outfield spots. When Gordon underwent surgery early last season, he went back to third and hit .271 with 12 home runs and 50 RBIs.

The Royals also announced they had declined 2010 options for outfielder Coco Crisp, right-hander Yasuhiko Yabuta and catcher Miguel Olivo, who led the Royals last year with 23 home runs.

Crisp and Olivo are eligible for free agency and general manager Dayton Moore said it was possible they could still rejoin the team. Crisp appeared in only 49 games last year because of injury.

The Royals sent an undisclosed amount of cash to the White Sox but probably still saved a lot of money. Teahen was eligible for arbitration and would probably have gotten a raise to about $5 million. He made about $3.75 million in 2009.

“Obviously, we’re in a time in baseball where the economics are very, very important,” Moore said. “I would not discount that as a part of the equation.”

He agreed that Teahen may have stayed in Kansas City if he were closer to the minimum salary.

“He would certainly be much more appealing to our baseball team than it was going forward.”

Crisp had an $8 million option with a $500,000 buyout. Olivo had an option of $3.3 million and a buyout of $100,000. Yabuta’s option was $4 million and his buyout was $500,000.

Getz, 26, was Chicago’s second baseman for much of last year and hit .261 with two home runs, 19 doubles and 31 RBIs.

Fields, 26, appeared in 79 games in 2009 and hit .222 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs.

Moore said Fields, who hit 23 home runs and had 67 RBIs as a rookie in 2007, may challenge Gordon at third base. He is also an outfield possibility.

“Competition is important. They’ve heard me say that before,” he said.

He also emphasized the Royals are not giving up on Gordon.

“We expect Alex to become the player we all anticipated that he would when he first stepped on the field here at Kauffman Stadium. But Josh Fields has the ability to play third as well. He’s played first, he’s played left field. Alex is somebody that unfortunately missed most of last season. This time last year in talking about Alex Gordon, we all anticipated that he was going to have a breakout year and if he would have stayed healthy there’s no doubt in my mind he would have.

“Alex is still very much a part of what we’re doing here.”

Both Fields and Getz can play multiple positions.

“The versatility of Josh and Chris is something we potentially want to take advantage of,” Moore said. “It puts us maybe in more of a position to be maybe more creative this offseason and through spring training. We like this deal and I think it puts our baseball team in a good situation.”

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