Orioles All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada and President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail had a 45-minute sit-down Saturday, and Tejada made it clear he wants to be on a winning club and he's not interested in a rebuilding one. From The Sun:
On the eve of what could be his last game in an Orioles uniform, Tejada said he didn't ask MacPhail for a trade, but made it clear he's not interested in being with a team that's in a rebuilding process.
"I want to win," Tejada said. "It's not about changing positions. My point isn't about changing positions. My point is winning. I don't want to play every day just for money. I'm not that kind of person. I play for pride. I don't care about changing positions if we're going to be a winner, and I want to be on a team that is going to compete to win."
No whining this time, no calling out anyone (except for the media speculating on his defense costing the O's games) and no ruling out staying with the O's if they do things to turn into a winner. But make no mistake - he wants out.
For his part, MacPhail simply wanted to hear what Miggi wanted from Miggi, and what he heard was a man who does not want to be moved to third, first or the outfield:
"I'm not particularly troubled with somebody that wants to play, wants to win games and believes in their abilities," MacPhail said. "He believes in his abilities at shortstop. That's OK. I have to do what is the best interest in the franchise. I think you make better decisions if you have opportunity to talk to people and get it first-hand. He clearly would prefer to stay at short, but he wants to win."
I've turned on Miggi this year in a big way. He's worth more to us in the form of what we could get for him than what his contributions next year would be. He may be the only Orioles jersey I own, but it's time to go. He knows it, we know it, and now MacPahil knows it.
It's just a matter of what we can get for him now, because Miguel Tejada will be playing his last game as an Orioles at 1:35 p.m. tomorrow. And part of me will be a little sad knowing my #10 jersey in my closet will be out of date by next February.
