Tejada traded for spare change

2007-12-12 16:03:41 by fogus in baseball (3 comments) permalink

Miguel Tejada was traded today to the Houston Astros for a package of Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate, and Michael Costanzo. On the surface this trade seems like a quantity over quality scenario, but there are a few things to take into consideration:<br/>

• There is some speculation that Tejada will be listed on the Mitchell Report due out tomorrow <br/>
• Tejada’s OPS looks like this:<br/>

<br/> * Tejada’s Rate looks like this:<br/>

<br/>

Bearing just those three items in mind, one can view Tejada’s market value more clearly. Was he worth what the rumors declared; namely Wood and Adenhart? I certainly wouldn’t make that trade. The fact that we got what we did is astonishing to me. Let’s look at what we got.<br/>

Luke Scott<br/> The guy is old. Twenty-nine years old for a guy who has only 663 ABs in the major leagues is not a great return, but who will really care in 3 years when he goes FA? There are a couple of key points to think about:

1. Scott has spent a career in the minors and has pretty good power numbers and has shown good patience (.534 SLG and .366 OBP in 1923 ABs)
2. Our other option in LF? Jay Payton. nuff said.
3. Given 500+ ABs he could conceivably put up an OPS of .850 for below market value — let’s see Payton do that
4. It’s possible that he could be used as filler for another, yet to be announced trade — although I will not hold my breath on this one.
5. His stats look suspiciously like… uhhh… Miguel Tejada’s!

<br/> Matthew Albers<br/> Albers is a throw-away addition if you ask me. His numbers do not stand out in any way, unless you like that he struck out 9.37 per 9 innings in the minors. Otherwise, meh.<br/> <br/> Troy Patton<br/> Patton could prove a decent return. His numbers project to about a #4 or 5 starter. Those are important right?<br/> <br/> Dennis Sarfate<br/> It seems that in Sarfate we have a clone of Albers above. Those two are so redundant it’s silly to acquire them both. Personally, I would have rather let the Astros keep them both and just taken Adam Everett instead, but I have a bit of a man-crush on him, so all caveats on bias should be considered.<br/> <br/> Mike Costanzo<br/> Pitcher turned outfielder who showed some pop in AA, albeit at 23 years old. Good walks numbers from Costanzo make him look just like the kind of player that I like. <br/> <br/> Overall, the Tejada trade is not very sexy, but what can you expect for an aging declining malcontent? It’s surprising that the Orioles did not get Everett in the trade because our options at SS now looks very bleak, but perhaps they have other plans — one can never tell with this team.<br/> -m

Related posts:

1. Filling a Glaring Hole: 1B
2. Glaring Hole Edition #3: LF
3. The Worst at Camden Yards
4. My *Current* Plan to Fix the Orioles in 2007 (option 1)
5. My Updated Plan to Fix the 2007 Orioles (version 2.0)

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