Houston Acquires Tejada for All the Prospects They Had Left
By
Amanda
Posted at 7:24 pm
The Houston Astros already ranked worst among farm systems in the league, which may explain why they had to trade five players to the Orioles for one Miguel Tejada. Doesn’t leave them a lot to work with to negotiate starting pitching. Maybe they’re counting on Clemens coming back.
HOUSTON — The Houston Astros announced today that the club has acquired infielder Miguel Tejada from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for right-handed pitcher Matt Albers, third baseman Michael Costanzo, left-handed pitcher Troy Patton, right-handed pitcher Dennis Sarfate and outfielder Luke Scott. The announcement was made by General Manager Ed Wade.
“We’ve added a run-producing, All-Star shortstop who will be an absolute force in the middle of our lineup,” said Wade. “With the exception of some time missed in 2007, Miguel has been someone who plays hard for every single inning of every single game. Placing him in our lineup solidifies the offense and gives us a very tough batting order.
“We gave up some outstanding players and prospects in this deal, and it hurts. But if you’re going to add a major piece to your club, the price is normally high.”
I have mix feelings here. We trade two of the people projected in our rotation, which is the weak point of our club. We have the best defensive shortstop in the game.
Also, Tejada’s numbers have decreased each of the last four seasons. I hope it works out.
Also, he might just hit 34 homeruns in Minute Maid Park next year. I see a lot of 12-10 type games for the Astros.
I don’t understand why they want Tejada. As even the Orioles fans point out, he’s mysteriously lost his ability to hit since he stopped taking that “Vitamin B.”
In other news…Love Shack has been signed to a minor league contract with the Dodgers.
So has former Yankee Tanyon Sturtze. His name is now a verb among Yankees fans. To sturtze, meaning to overuse a favorite bullpen pitcher until he’s completely ineffective. Example: “Proctor was awesome until Torre sturtzed him.”
So, Torre now has both Sturtze and Proctor back. The Reds should see if he wants Stanton back, too.
And now, like the Brewers (who just signed Gagne this week), the Astros are stuck with the embarassment of having just added a player (Tejada) who gained recent notoriety due to being fingered as a user in the Mitchell report.
And gave up five guys who are “clean” (so far) to get him. Oops.
JK