I've been quiet of late, waiting for something major to happen that involved the Orioles, fearing that it wouldn't, and that we'd go into 2008 with roughly the same team.
Tejada should have been traded at the break in 2006. He should have been traded after the 2006 season.
He had to go. He wanted to go. And he wasn't adding anything that would be terribly missed, all things taken into account.
But I can't slam Miggi too much. Sure, many times he annoyed the hell out of me. He whined, he bitched and moaned and complained. He annoyed others by not running out ground balls and sometimes appearing indifferent to fielding.
Miguel Tejada came to Baltimore as an ex-AL MVP, one of the top shortstops in the game. He leaves a declining shortstop that badly needs to move to third base, his power failing him.
But Miggi did all he could do, really. He produced. The numbers don't lie.
Or, well, do they? Even just a little white lie?
Hey, Astros fans -- don't get excited. Just trust me. It all seems so charming, a shortstop who can go deep, even with less frequency than before. And he's a bargain on the current market, that's true.
But he'll let you down. Over and over and over again. I know I said he did all he could do, but that's relative. I hate getting into "clutch," but Tejada very often hit as the absolute definition of being un-clutch. Miggi will gladly rope a single up the middle with two out and nobody on, so long as you don't expect him to deliver with men on late in a close game.
The double plays will pile up as Tejada slams sinker after sinker into the dirt. His fielding range will kill you.
And if you guys don't win? Oh, man. Have fun with The Miguel Tejada Show, starring Miguel Tejada as a man who craps on the team, then says he didn't say that, what he said was...
Five guys for one? I'll take it. Thanks, Houston.
So, adios, Miguel. And gracias. Good luck in Houston, since I don't care what the Astros do.
But I can't say as though I'll much miss Tejada, even counting as well as he did perform for us. It didn't work. And I'm glad that before it got way too late, we've cut bait.
Maybe we really are moving forward.