O's trade Tejada to Astros

[whomper]

Baltimore finally punched Miguel Tejada's ticket out of town Wednesday, and for those predicting that it would be a cold day in hell before owner Peter Angelos loosened his clutches on the club, maybe the truth is that it would simply be a cold day in December 2007.

 

 

The trade of Tejada to the Astros means not only that the Orioles are making a long overdue move to change the stale and flawed makeup of the club. More important, it's the first clear signal that Angelos truly has given club president Andy MacPhail the autonomy he needs to change a losing culture amid a declining fan base.

 

Mark this date down in Christmas-colored Sharpies. For Orioles fans -- those who are left, at least -- it can mean only one thing: Repeat the sounding joy.

 

MacPhail received a solid, five-player haul in exchange for a declining player scouts say is more suited for third base now than shortstop: outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Safarte and third baseman Michael Costanzo.

His range at shortstop wasn't the only noticeable erosion in Tejada's play. While the Orioles removed from the middle of their lineup a gamer who played in 619 of 648 contests during the four seasons since signing a six-year, $72 million deal in the winter of 2003, they also subtracted a man who had his least productive season offensively (18 homers and 81 RBI) since 1999.

 

Clearly, the Orioles traded Tejada too late rather than too soon, and that significant error is on Angelos.

 

But the prospect of MacPhail calling the shots now rather than orders emanating from the owner's chair means the Orioles, once one of baseball's model franchises, at least now have a chance to change a culture of losing that has produced 10 consecutive sub-.500 seasons and driven away fans by the thousands.

 

The franchise is in such woeful shape that there is no magic trick that will produce a quick fix. There almost certainly will be more pain before things turn around, given the lethal combination of the colossal payrolls and talent bases in New York and Boston and the dreadful makeup of the Orioles' current roster.

 

The club is overloaded with DH/first base-types (Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff, Jay Gibbons and even Ramon Hernandez) and tissue paper-thin in other areas, such as the bullpen.

 

MacPhail acknowledged during an interview with CBSSports.com two weeks ago that the rebuilding job facing the franchise was even bigger than he expected when he took the job last summer -- partly because of the thin talent pool in Camden Yards, and partly because of a robust AL East in which, after the Yankees and Red Sox, Toronto remains tough and Tampa Bay is improving.

 

To that end, he's open to all options. Left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard -- sought by the New York Mets, Seattle, the Dodgers, Cincinnati, Toronto and others -- could be the next to go. Second baseman Brian Roberts has been the subject of conversations with the Chicago Cubs.

 

What the package netted by Tejada lacks in All-Stars (there is none among them) it makes up for in numbers. The Orioles' is a system that needs re-stocking, and MacPhail currently is the man walking into the liquor store seeking a fistful of lottery tickets rather than just one. Maybe there's no big winner in the bunch, but several smaller winning tickets could add up.

[isleseeya]

Tejada could have a resurgent year , hitting in that ball park now and wit Berkman , Carlos lee in same line up

[Skrappy1]

Call me skeptical, but I have a hard time thinking that it's a total coincidence that Tejada was dealt for a package of quasi-prospects exactly ONE day before the Mitchell Report is to be officially released. I mean, at this point there is likely to be so many names on the list that it almost won't matter who is named, but I'd be very surprised if Tejada isn't among them.

[SLAYER]

Call me skeptical, but I have a hard time thinking that it's a total coincidence that Tejada was dealt for a package of quasi-prospects exactly ONE day before the Mitchell Report is to be officially released. I mean, at this point there is likely to be so many names on the list that it almost won't matter who is named, but I'd be very surprised if Tejada isn't among them.

 

 

#1 you can almost bet your house his name is on the list.

[ebartender]

I feel for the Astro's fans. Ed Wade is killing their minor league depth as he did witht he Phillies. Yeah the Phillies have some real nice young talent in the bigs, but their minor league system has no prospects. That makes it almost impossible to make any meaningful deals to help the team now. Next will be Wade signing players to long deals with no-trade clauses a plenty.

[aqualung]

I feel for the Astro's fans. Ed Wade is killing their minor league depth as he did witht he Phillies. Yeah the Phillies have some real nice young talent in the bigs, but their minor league system has no prospects. That makes it almost impossible to make any meaningful deals to help the team now. Next will be Wade signing players to long deals with no-trade clauses a plenty.

 

They had one of the worst talent field to begin with.

[aqualung]

I feel for the Astro's fans. Ed Wade is killing their minor league depth as he did witht he Phillies. Yeah the Phillies have some real nice young talent in the bigs, but their minor league system has no prospects. That makes it almost impossible to make any meaningful deals to help the team now. Next will be Wade signing players to long deals with no-trade clauses a plenty.

 

They had one of the worst talent field to draw from to begin with.