Miguel Tejada arrived in Baltimore with a $72MM contract and the promise of MVP-caliber play six offseasons ago. This time, the expectations are more moderate and so is Tejada's contract. The Orioles agreed to a one-year, $6MM deal with the infielder, who will play third for the first time in his MLB career.
Baltimore already signed one corner infielder, Garrett Atkins, so Tejada will play third and Atkins will play first. The 35-year-old Tejada hit .313/.340/.455 for the Astros last season, with pretty drastic home-road splits. UZR/150 tells us that Tejada's defense cost the Astros ten-plus runs last year, though that was at a different position than the one the O's will have him play.
Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun first reported the deal and Jon Heyman of SI.com added the terms.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
Welcome back Miggy!
I guess this means Crede might be back in Minnesota.
Might be a trade with Pittsburgh for LaRoche. A good match for both teams.
and what of Atkins?
Atkins moves over to First.
YES!!!!!! Miggy is an O!!
Sucks for Crede.
Hold on a minute Crede fans…(NYYANKEES and jasenn), If they play Miggy at short that could open the door for Crede at 3rd. We all know Miggy doesn’t have the same range as he did 5 years ago but who knows? Dave Trembley may want to expierement.
Welcome back Miggy!!!!
Crede blows & is handicap. 3 Years, 3 Major SPINAL Injuries – .190 vs AL East from ’07-09
1. Roberts 2B (Switch) – 179 H, 285 Total Bases, 56 Dub’s, 74 BB, 30 SB
2. Tejada 3B (Right) – .367 (106/289) batting 2nd in ’09, 26 out of 46 Dub’s. 199 H, 86 RBI, Clutch.
3. Markakis RF (Left) – 188 H, 291 TB, 101 RBI, .302 Career avg vs. AL East, .311 Runners on ’09, .299 RISP
4. Reimold LF (Right) – .304 avg, 7HR vs AL East, 24 HR between Majors/Norfolk last year.
5. Wieters C (Switch) – .500 avg (6/12) batting 5th, .343 career minor avg
6. Jones CF (Right) – Should improve lower in the lineup..hopefully
7. Scott DH (Left) – Make it or Break it year
8. Atkins 1B (Right) – .293 career BA w/ RISP, .283 last year.
9. Izturis SS (Switch) – .310 BA at OPACY, Hit .290(38/131) as RHB
I just threw up thinking about Miguel Tejada batting second for the Orioles.
Think of how many times you’ll hear, “Flip to second, throw to first, double play! And Tejada ruins another shot at an O’s rally!”
Yeah you can’t hate his production though. Tejada batting clean-up might be more of the GIDP problem. Let me also point out that Roberts hit 56 doubles last year, so maybe that won’t be much of an issue. & it’s a big time relief to not sign Joe Crede in my mind.
Miggy’s a 3B. Atkins’ original position is 1B before he broke through on a team with Helton in his prime.
I think Tejada might end up being a 5 hole guy eventually.
19 walks and a .323 BABIP that is bound to go down. That’s what you want in a #2 hitter? Ok…
Unless Tejada is playing half his games in Houston I can certainly hate his production. His home/away differences are staggering.
He’ll be lucky to post an OPS above 750. Combine that with below average defense and the guy isn’t great. Now, for $6m it isn’t a bad signing – just nothing to get overly excited about.
It is when a lot of people were talking about Crede instead.
tejada will hit third or cleanup 199 hits 313 average led the nl in doubles. welcome back miggy
key word there is NL… not AL East
i don’t know what that means i the key word is al nl he hits 300 or close to that everywhere he has been. if it was the afc east he would hit. its what he does.
I thought Izturis had dropped being a switch hitter to focus on batting lefty.
Tejada won’t be batting second on a regular basis. Maybe on occasion, but I imagine Jones will be the #2 hitter for now.
1. Roberts
2. Jones
3. Markakis
4. Reimold
5. Tejada
6. Atkins
7. Scott
8. Wieters
9. Izturis
Wieters= overated. He’s not that good.
Jones is not a good fit for the 2-hole. He doesn’t get on base enough and his power should justify a spot in the middle of the lineup (5th or 6th).
Wieters did pretty well in his debut, let’s save the “overrated” rhetoric until we have at least a full season of data.
Wieters is pretty good. He wasn’t swinging for power too much last year but still accidentally hit opposite field pop fly HRs. I don’t know how you could say he’s one way or another without any extended data on him. Or, maybe you just like to be a go against the grain for the sake of it?
wieters is overated???? you sir have no idea what your talking about!
yess he is he got hot the last half of the year
wieters is going to have a brake out year he will be the best catcher in the al not in the twin cities. matusz will be a rookie of the year contender and win 16+ wins we may finish 4th this year. but we have more young tallent than anyone the al. this will be our decade.
hate to say it as a sox fan, but weiters is good. Would love to have that kid as a long term solution at backstop.
wieters came on strong towards the end of the year i got the same line up but atkins and wieters flipped.
And you can’t say Wieters is a good #5 hitter based on 12 at-bats (3 games). Wieters will be a #8 hitter, #6 at best.
no. swap tejada and jones in that lineup. it makes no sense to hit jones 6 and tejada 2.
good move by the o’s.. bringing tejada back could help land bedard too, this team could be the tampa bay from a couple years ago.
Thank you for putting a bunch of unneeded stats in there.
i particularly liked the random ‘clutch’ designation for Miggy
O the irony of Tejada’s return. Great move by the Orioles their offense should be very exciting to watch this year top to bottom
They have a nice team that will finish in 3rd or 4th place.
Yes… making all the moves, but no way they beat out the Yankees, Red Sox, or Rays. Maybe the Jays though….
That is fine. It will give the young guys a chance to develop more. No sense in rushing them from the minors.
So where does Ty Wigginton fit into this? Does it mean possibly Scott is traded? Maybe Wigginton himself is traded?
Wigginton will be used off the bench and do alot of pitch hitting. And Scott is the everyday DH. They could put Wigginton in there at DH when they are facing LHP
not bad having guys like Wigginton and Pie coming off the bench
That could be near the top of MLB benchs when you have 2 possible starters coming off the bench. Perhaps the Red Sox as well, but it’s close.
Michael Aubrey was most likely going to be the 1B starter if we didn’t sign a corner IF. He was a 1st Round Draft pick for the Indians and played very well in his 31 Games last year w/ the O’s. So I’ll bump that up to 3 possible starters. Pie, Wiggy, Aubrey
Never hurts to have depth. Especially with injury-prone players (Jones, Reimold) and streaky players (Scott, Atkins) & low-experienced youngstars.
i wouldnt lable jones and reimold injury proned yet….. Reimold played thru his injury and jones got hurt because he always gives 110%. They pretty much put them on the DL so that they could have some extra time to rehab so they could be 100% at the start of Spring Training.
I’m guessing Wiggy is the utility guy, I don’t know?
Either way, I think this team has taken some solid steps towards winning now, and at least looking decent until all their young studs are ready to take over. I think they’d contend easily in pretty much any other division. Their lineup is solid and their rotation could be very good if Tillman and Matusz have good years.
They have tried to remain competitive in the past by signing declining guys to big deals, trying to compete with the Yanks and the Sox, but long term deals now are scare and the team won’t be set back by signing vets on one year deals.
just worried about defense
Agreed. Most our pitching are groundball pitchers which isn’t a bad thing but it might be w/ Tejada @ 3rd. No way of really being sure.
Cal Ripken switched from SS to 3B. His SS FP% was .982 & his 3B FP% .960
A-Rod also switched. SS: .977 3B: .962
I guess we’ll see in 2010 how Tejada fares. Unless they slide Izturis over(who has played 3B) – but that’s highly unlikely & makes little sense.
O’s Groundball %
70% Meredith, 54.5% J Johnson, 50.1% Bergesen, 48.9% Albers, 44.8% Hendrickson, 43.6% Bedard(Just throwing him in there b/c he’s the O’s next signing) 43.1% Millwood, 40.5% Gonzalez, 40.1% Sarfarte, 40.4% Guthrie
Not a bad move, Tejada will hopefully play well enough to become decent trade bait come july and net some more prospects to stock pile for next year. Because a trade will be the only way we will be able to land BIG TALENT until we start acting like the orioles we all remember.
I disagree…Who knows, the O’s may have a shot to compete this year or next. Bringing vets to the ballclub will pay off. The young players that the O’s have expieremented with in the past havent been bad, but we all know where the O’s have finished in recent years.
I really don’t see them trading Tejada. Even if they do they won’t get much for him. Who is going to trade for a guy who is old and declining while giving up young promising talent?
1. Roberts 2B (Switch) – 179 H, 285 Total Bases, 56 Dub’s, 74 BB, 30 SB
2. Jones CF (Right) – Should improve lower in the lineup..hopefully
3. Markakis RF (Left) – 188 H, 291 TB, 101 RBI, .302 Career avg vs. AL East, .311 Runners on ’09, .299 RISP
4. Reimold LF (Right) – .304 avg, 7HR vs AL East, 24 HR between Majors/Norfolk last year. 5. Wieters C (Switch) – .500 avg (6/12) batting 5th, .343 career minor avg
6. Tejada 3B (Right) – .367 (106/289) batting 2nd in ’09, 26 out of 46 Dub’s. 199 H, 86 RBI, Clutch.
7. Scott DH (Left) – Make it or Break it year
8. Atkins 1B (Right) – .293 career BA w/ RISP, .283 last year.
9. Izturis SS (Switch) – .310 BA at OPACY, Hit .290(38/131) as RHB
My favorite part is how you use a sample size of 12 AB to justify Wieters batting 5th.
where do you get 12 ABs from? He played 96 games last year and 350 ABs. He got moved later in the season to higher in the order after some torrid weeks of hitting. If there’s any hitter you try out higher in the order it’s Wieters. He basically posted a historically good minor league campaign. If you don’t give him a shot then who?
Did you even read the post I replied too? He said Wieters was 6/12 in the 5 spot in the order as if a sample size of 12 at bats meant something. Sure, he was hot later in the year. But I wouldn’t want to put the pressure of being a middle of the order bat on him unless he proves he can handle it.
no miggy in Minn. = moar Punto!!! = WIN
They offer Washburn 5MM to be a in a 6 man fight for the 5th spot in the rotation (Liriano, Perkins, Duensing, Swarzack, Manship) but they can’t offer 6MM+ for a proven guy to play 3B!!! Looks like Punto and Harris starting 3B and 2B
I like how the Orioles are being built. If their young pitching comes together be scared. Matusz was just one of many to come.
While it looks like a good move, as a rockies fan that would worry me moving Atkins to first base as a permanent move. He was a satisfactory replacement for the Gold Glove Helton best, and the number of plays he messed up pulling off the bag too early or not having the stretch to get to (not to mention an inability to scoop the ball in the dirt well enough) caused much worry to fans through the season. With Tejada at 3rd, and Atkins at 1st, you’ll be sure to score some runs (if Atkins gets back on track, and I think he will) but you’ve just mortgaged your infield’s defense. You don’t have to agree with me, and maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but I’ve seen it first hand myself. He’s good, just not a starter at 1st.
wont really matter much when we trade them both at the trade deadline lol. they are just stop gaps for our 2 prospects that need half a season in the minors to get AB’s
I knew he would most likely return to Oakland or Baltimore..
mmm i think they payed a little to much for him…
How much would be the right price? Both Beltre and Figgins got 9M/YR deals. Of all the GMs out there, it’s hard to imagine MacPhail overpaying anyone. If he is criticized it tends to be for his conservative and cheap strategies.
Beltre and Figgins were the top 3B guys out there. After them it’s a huge dropoff. Glaus got a incentive-laden one year deal around 1M, but he’s a major injury risk and older. Tejada is in his decline but he’s still technically above-average, and at the very least, he is the most durable option out there. If I am right he’s been on the DL once. Before that he was the reigning active Iron Man.
If he plays everyday at 3B at more or less the same rate as ’09, I think 6M is a solid market rate.
As others have already pointed out, Tejada and Atkins are stop gaps. Both are signed to a one year deal. Atkins has a club option for a second year loaded with incentives. If Atkins returns to form, we could very well keep him in the lineup. Tejada on the other hand, could be moved to SS when Josh Bell is ready to come up. Think about that for a moment. Taking Izturis out of the lineup and replacing him with Miggy would prove to be a smart move considering his lack of offensive production. The only question mark would be what to do with Brandon Snyder and Brandon Waring if they are ready to move up. I believe Waring was the Minor League Player of the Year. He has a ton of power. Those prospects won’t be ready until 2011 most likely. This year, Miggy and Atkins are just buying them some time but they are most certainly players who should be productive while they are here.
Also, there are rumors that Bedard could be on his way back as well. Imagine that, trading the two best players on the team two years ago, netting 10 players, and resigning those players back on the team. I would say that would be one of the best moves in O’s history considering that from those players they received Scott, Jones, Tillman, and Mikolio. Some of the players did not pan out such as Albers, Patton (still in the minors, but was lights out in AA), Costanzo, Scott Moore, etc. Also, can’t forget Sherrill, who was traded to the Dodgers for their future 3B Josh Bell.
The O’s are in the toughest division in all of baseball. Their lineup will be pretty sold top to bottom. The past few years we have seen the bottom third as inadequate. Now the O’s are solid top to bottom. Take that with a starting rotation of Millwood, Guthrie, Bergensen (unknown to many people), Matusz (should make a run at ROY), and Tillman (still only 21 years old). The O’s trading Sherrill showed the bullpen that they desperately needed a closer. What do they do? They sign Mike Gonzalez, arguably the best RP in this free agent class. The O’s also have Arrieta, Erbe, and Britton in the minors who should make their way up in the near future. The future is looking very bright for the O’s. All they need now at this point is a true ace (Bedard when healthy) and a big cleanup hitter.
Just to point out, Scott Moore was not a part of either of those trades. The O’s got him several years back when they traded Steve Trachsel to the Cubs.
Not to diminish the quality of the teams in the AL EAST, but I don’t care what division you play in. If you have pitching, you can and do stop teams like the Yankees and Bosox.
All of a sudden, if those teams face heavy doses of deep pitching teams like the Rays and where the Orioles hope to get to, suddenly their win totals don’t warrant automatic 2nd place/Wild Card spots. Suddenly those teams will be duking it out trying to gain as many inter-divisional wins as possible, which used to be so cheap, but now would be so expensive.
agreed. If the staff can lower that ERA at least a run, I believe the O’s will make some noise this year. AL East champs, probably not, but I expect them to be competitive all season long.
I generally agree, but that didn’t help the Blue Jays a couple of years ago. They had excellent pitching, but no run production. I’m glad to see them in rebuild mode now, too.
The problem is that the Yankees and Red Sox both have better pitching than the O’s. The fact that their offense walks all over Baltimore is just icing on the cake.
The O’s can be good – but it won’t be this year.
That was before the Yankees went out and signed CC + AJ.
Before last year, they were more of an offensive team with a dearth of quality pitching. (The Red Sox also added Lackey this season)
2008 was both an offensive and defensive down year for the Yankees. They were only 10th in runs scored that season due to injuries. Even with quality pitching, I just don’t see the O’s competing. Everything went right for the Rays in 2008. (They seemingly won every game by one or two runs)
It takes more than just quality pitching:
Only 2 of the top 5 team era leaders made it to the postseason.
Of the top 10 teams, only 4 made it to the postseason in 2009.
I cannot believe the Astros swapped him for Pedro Feliz over 2 million dollars. Freakin rediculous
Combine that with giving Brandon Lyon 5 mil over 3 years instead of giving Valverde 8 for 2 and Ed Wade should be fired and never allowed to work in baseball again
As an Astros fan, I have one lasting memory of Miguel Tejada. Led the NL in hitting into double plays…..rally killer. Batted in 86 runs, but could have had 150 RBIs if it wasn’t for double plays. Good luck. Now he can join Luke Scott and the three sacks of potatoes we traded.
Great pick up for the Os. The one year contract should give enough time for Bell to get seasoned in the minors.
Line up should be something like this:
1. Roberts
2. Tejada- # 2 may be a little high, but did have 200 hits in ’09
3. Jones
4. Markakis
5. Wieters
6. Reimold
7. Scott
8. Atkins- Could eventually move up if he returns to ’08 form
9. Izturis
Love the way Macphail has built this team around young talent, with a few veterans sprinkled in. However, I’d like to see the O’s play Tejada at SS and bring in a 3B. Izturis is a nonfactor at the plate.
If we field the guys listed above, and DH Scott, what will the bench look like. Pie, a catcher, Wigginton, and Andino will mean a 7 man bullpen. If we want 8 in the pen, who will we drop off the bench. If we drop Andino, who sill back up 2B. Wigginton played 300 innings there in ’06 and ’07, but I do not look forward to that prospect.
Although Andino is the back up at both 2B and SS, he doesn’t bring much to the table. In the last two seasons, he has hit .206 and .222. The O’s should send him down to AAA to make room for a pitcher. If Izturis or Roberts goes down, bring him back up.
there was an overall exciting reaction at Fanfest in Baltimore today. Personally, I think this is a good move by Andy Mac by giving miggie one more good year before Bell gets up to speed. If Atkins does well at first, a position he played before he was on a team with Helton, we can exercise the option. If not Aubrey gets another shot.
great move for the O’s there lineup actually looks pretty scary not saying there the yankees and will lead the league in home runs but almost all our players in the lineup know how 2 get on base which is just as essiatal as the long ball
there starting rotation is a whole other issue but even thats turning the heat up…. millwood had very good stats against the al east last year macphail rly did his homework when aquireing this guy and tillman looked ok last year as did matusz with the latter probaly bein more major league ready
look for the rotation to look something like
millwood
guthrie
matuzs
berken(or hernandez)
tillman
with koji being moved 2 the bullpen or possibly closer berken or hernandez could go either way with 1 making the rotation and the other in the bullpen. i just think hernandez is the 1 singled out, some scouts have even said he’d be much more productive in relief then as a starter plus i’d like 2 see what berken can do in his 2nd season as a starter and givin a vote of confidence by the coach.
hernandez rly stuggles i think towards the end of the season he lost 8-9 decision berken wasnt great either but atleast he was just inconsistent he would have like a LWLLWLLWW better than daves LLLLLLL
Ummm Bergesen? 3.6 ERA Confirmed Orioles 3rd SP? Where did he go? Berken is trash and won’t make the club. Hernandez could be a dominant reliever in the pen.
SP Millwood
SP Guthrie
SP Bergesen
SP Matusz
SP Tillman
*and soon (maybe) SP Bedard (ready in June)
Bergesen will be the 3rd starter. Matusz will be 4th. You won’t see Berken or Hernandez in the rotation unless there’s an injury or Tillman falters.
Bergesen will be the 3rd starter. Matusz will be 4th. Don’t expect to see Berken or Hernandez in the rotation unless there’s an injury or Tillman falters.
Neither berken nor hernandez will be in the rotation, They will be 6th guy/spot starter but bergesen is making the rotation
I think you are forgetting about Brad Bergesen.
Got to see Mauer and Weiters in Double AA, Weiters is the real deal.
Man i was hopeing he would come back to Oakland. Makes me so mad! lol
What the Orioles need to focus on primarily..is a starting pitchers which can gurantee atleast 15 solid starts (30 starts in total), as their 3rd pitcher in the rotation, becuase frankly they have a decent bullpen.
Im going to throw 2 names out here:
1. Jon Garland: 16-6, 3.40 ERA @ AL East Stadiums
2. Noah Lowry: Who seems to be in a healthy state, and we know what he is capable of when he is healthy…(2007) 14-8, 3.92 ERA, 26 GS, 1CG
SP1- K. Millwood
SP2- J. Gutherie
SP3- J. Garland or N.Lowry
SP4- B. Matusz
SP5- B. Bergesen
(Back-ups incase of any falters: J.Berken, D.Hernandez, C.Tillman and A.Simon)
I wouldn’t call Alfredo Simon a backup option. He was dreadful last year in his two starts before his injury and I don’t think he’d be a very reliable option at all. I think if they really needed another backup option that Mark Hendrickson would step in…that is if they ever resign him.
Miggy jacks up the yankees everytime he plays them