Tejada to Astros

[Mulli]

Astros Acquire Miguel Tejada

UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 12:04pm: Rosenthal says Tejada is expected to play short for the Astros; Adam Everett's time may be up. Tejada's offensive output looks a lot better coming from short than it does coming from third, though it may be a moot point if Ty Wigginton is manning the hot corner.
FROM 12-12-07 at 11:42am:
This comes as a surprise, on the heels of a Rosenthal report to the contrary. Jeff Zrebiec says the Astros have acquired Miguel Tejada for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate, and Mike Costanzo.
That's a fine haul for Baltimore. The Astros pretty much cleaned out their farm system for two years of an average-hitting third baseman. The average NL 3B had an .804 OPS in '07; Tejada was at .799 in the AL. I know some readers think I'm an Astro-hater but that's not the case. I just think they gave up way too much here. Patton was ranked their third best prospect by Baseball America, Costanzo sixth. Scott is a cheap quality regular, and Albers was third on the team's 2007 top prospect list.

</H3>
Man, that is a lot to give up, right?

 

[Mulli]

Sorry for the poor formatting.

 

[abomb]

Man, that is a lot to give up, right?

Especially after he shows up on the Mitchell Report on Thursday.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

</H3>
Man, that is a lot to give up, right?

Albers and Patton are the prize pickups here.

 

[HooverDam]

I feel bad for the Orioles. Theyll probably never be able to compete w/ Boston and NY, they are always selling off their best players, it must suck to be a Baltimore fan.

 

[devilfan02]

I feel bad for the Orioles. Theyll probably never be able to compete w/ Boston and NY, they are always selling off their best players, it must suck to be a Baltimore fan.

You have to remember, most of us are AZ Cardinal fans here. I don't feel bad for anyone

 

[Diamondback Jay]

I feel bad for the Orioles. Theyll probably never be able to compete w/ Boston and NY, they are always selling off their best players, it must suck to be a Baltimore fan.

Tejada's on the decline. May as well trade him while his value is still high.

 

[HooverDam]

You have to remember, most of us are AZ Cardinal fans here. I don't feel bad for anyone

Im a Cards fan too, but I just feel like, they've always sucked, so I dont let it bother me. I honestly don't get upset when they lose. The Orioles were a once proud organization, who now sucks, so, I feel bad.

 

[scXfreakX]

Orioles definitely win this trade. They got some nice prospects for a declining, but still talented, player.

 

[Southpaw]

I wonder if this deal gets rescinded if Tejada gets busted by Mitchell report.

 

[CardsFan88]

I was thinking the same thing...can a trade be rescinded based on this? I had a feeling they were taking the best deal they could before this report came out.

On espn they just say they have photocopied personal checks with tejada's name on it to that mets ballboy or whatever

 

[krispydude]

im thinking that if the orioles withheld medical information regarding tejada it may be able to be reversed. however that may only apply to injuries and then if not it may be hard to prove the orioles knew about his steroid use.

 

[CardsFan88]

I also would suspect the lower hr/rbi/batting avgs he's had over the last few years are more like his 'norm'. This puts alot more doubt in my mind that he'll ever bounce back. Astros got screwed imho. He's still a good player, but tainted, and over-hyped (for lack of a better word)

 

[devilfan02]

Tejadas bat is nowhere near what it once was (can't juice anymore) and his defense at short is horrible (and he refuse to move to 3B). He 2 hops every throw to first

 

[scXfreakX]

Well, I'm sure the Astros aren't totally surprised by this. But I'm sure this doesn't make them feel better. And considering if their is a rule like that a trade could be undone, I doubt their would be because the steroid thing is a pretty recent topic. I mean, to the degree that its at today.

 

[CardsFan88]

It could be a medical issue, as said before. Knowing someone using steroids and not telling. the prospective interested team and then trading them, might fall under that category. Although I'm sure if necessary litigation would be forced to determine an outcome one way or the other.

But it gets even muddier.

Just like drug addiction is a disease. Are performance enhancers? Is it addictive? In theory anyone fired from a job because of drugs can sue and would probably win a huge lawsuit unless certain criteria is met. Can't be fired for first offense, Job must have a treatment program/option or whatever, the person needs to be informed of it (or least have access that is deemed adequate and reasonable by someone), etc. If these (and probably others) haven't occurred and you're fired, you can sue the balls off of someone, in theory. I would bet that's one of the reasons why drug policies have multiple offense guidelines. To show, hey if we suspend or banned him, we have our stuff in place, we give them multiple chances, etc.

Of course people that put others in danger through their drug use I believe can be fired, like cab drivers, firefighters, air traffic controllers, pilots, etc. But I don't know much, just what I was told in class a few years back. There are even some questions that you can't ask in an interview, some that most of us HAVE been asked in the past, that could get the company in BIGGG TROUBLE if they currently practice such things. Even though they are ballplayers, I'd guess it would be best to have a knowledgeable human resources manager explain the potential pitfalls of drug testing and enforcement. But overall this is much, much more unique and complex situation. It borders on drugs and medical rights/privacy, not only between employee-client, but client-client.