Sunday, January 24, 2010

Ed Wade Does Not Sign Miguel Tejada

In a surprising move, Houston Astros General Manager Ed Wade does not sign Miguel Tejada to a ten year extension. Finally Wade does something smart. Instead, the Baltimore Orioles bring back Tejada for one year at $6 million.

I get that Tejada will be a body to hold down third base until prospect Josh Bell takes over. I would also get this move if Tejada was signed for $1 million because if he somehow puts up okay numbers, he could be flipped for a B+ prospect. Hey, maybe the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom I am shocked didn't sign Tejada to a multi-year deal to begin with, would trade another nice prospect, a la Josh Bell. At $6 million, even at one year, it just seems like a waste of money. Who else wanted to sign him?

With the Houston Astros, where Tejada aged two years in one year, he put up horrible numbers. Don't let the two all-star appearances and the .313 batting average and 86 RBI fool you, like it fooled Orioles General Manager Andy MacPhail. Last year, he put up a 109 OPS+ and posted a 92 OPS+ the year before. In 2008, he had a .314 OBP, but he did improve to a .340 OBP last year. So last year, he had a .313 batting average and a .340 OBP. So we know that his on base skills are batting average heavy these days. He has a career .289 batting average, which is only .006 points above his 2008 batting average. What does this mean? It means that he is unlikely to post a .340 on base percentage at age 36 in the American League East. He will probably put up numbers closer to his 2008 rate stats.

If I was Chris Berman, I would nickname Andy MacPhail, Andy Mac-Epic-Phail. This signing, as it stands, looks bad, but if Casey Blake goes down for the Los Angeles Dodgers, I think MacPhail might be able to get another prospect from the Dodgers...

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