The Cardinals, Giants and Padres are expressing varying degrees of interest in Miguel Tejada, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (link in Spanish). Some teams see Tejada as a shortstop and others see him as a third baseman, according to Rojas' source.
The 36-year-old played 58 games at short for the Padres after they acquired him from Baltimore, where he was playing third base. The Giants are focused on finding a shortstop and the Cardinals could use middle infield help.
Tejada could have earned a raise from his 2010 salary of $6MM had the Padres offered arbitration. The Padres did not offer arbitration, so teams will not have to surrender a pick to sign Tejada, a Type A free agent.
The six-time All-Star batted .269/.312/.381 with 15 homers between Baltimore and San Diego last year. He appeared in over 150 games for the 11th time in 12 seasons.
I can see that happening as a stopgap. Please don’t overpay Sabes, and 1 or 2 years at most.
As a Giants fan, I hate the idea of Tejada. Hopefully this a plan D or E.
I think the market for Tejada as of yesterday, skyrocketed…And I just don’t see the Cardinals or Padres being suitors for him. And I think the Giants as well as the Cardinals, have Uribe first on their list…We’ll see. I’d like to see the Pirates or Orioles sign Tejada…I think he would be a nice fit for both teams.
I really hope the Pirates nor the Orioles sign him. Both teams are garbage. I would really like to see the Padres resign him as their SS and Jerry Hairston at 2nd if that’s what it comes down to.
How about Uribe AND Tejada on the left side….hmmmmm.
Maybe it’s just some posturing to get Uribe’s agent to come down a bit….
Tejada’s the next best thing to Uribe for the Giants. I’d be happy if it plays out. Good defense, good hitting, got some pop, a bit old but Giants counter that with their ever-so-young pitching rotation.
Hes got some pop, but at this point in his career he is not well suited for shortstop anymore
Not such good defense, actually, at least not at shortstop. And 2009 was the first year in a LONG time in which he did not lead the league in GIDPs. It’s enough to be a serious pattern. I suspect that he wasn’t on the list this year because the Orioles failed to put runners on base ahead of him, but that’s just a hunch.
Tejada is a stopgap move. He’ll hit but his glove work is suspect at this point in his career. If I had my druthers, it’s Uribe
A large part of this by the Giants and Cardinals is to send a message to Uribe and his reps that there are other options out there. The problem for the Giants is that the Cards are likely to outbid them for Uribe, so Sabean is legitimately looking at alternatives by way of trade or FA.
Don’t see the Cards going $6 + mil for multiple years for Uribe…
this is just part of the game to bring uribe down a bit… cards need insurance for the left side… so defintely some moderate interest.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Tejada timeshare with Freese or be a fallback for Brendan Ryan…………
I’d rather get Uribe though.
The Dodgers should consider Tejada for 3B, then have Blake and Loney platoon at 1B. Not the ideal solution, but Blake still hits lefties well and Loney is decent against righties. Then sign a 2B and LFer.
I wish the Angels would sign him to play 3B, 2 year deal
Why has no one brought up Alex Gonzalez @ SS for the Giants? I think he’d be a better and cheaper stopgap option than Tejada.
not a bad idea, but are the braves shopping him?
What about Tejada for a year with a option on a second year? Our options besides janish isnt really close to the majors and im suspect of his bat in a full time job though his defense is great. His numbers could bump up a bit is GABP but he has power for the postion and Rolen would save him some worry about his range to his right
I hope Option A is a trade for: Reyes,Grenkie,Upton,Drew
Jose Reyes i would go after him while is stock is low and the Mets are taking offers, Hes super fast he would be our leadoff hitter and future shortstop for years to come.Wouldnt take as much to get as the other 3.Im wondering if Sam LeCure, Matt Maloney and Chris Valkia woudl get it done with his stock so low. i doubt it but maybe we can Trade Brad Boxberger our first rround pick last year i belive.The mets seem to need pitching and they would get a shortstop in return
Grenkie: We NEED NEED a Ace Pitcher as evidence of the post season.He would take alot of prospects but we have abundace of Major League pieces ready for trade chips if we could get a ace.The best park is Zach is under contract for 2 more years i belive? ithink he would take Travis Wood,Todd Fraizer,Dave Sappelt, Homer Bailey and lower guys.
And Upton and Drew: i explianed them in a different post. Thats alot to give up for them and alot of users agreed with my post for what it would take. Mike Leake,Yonder Alonso,Juan Fransico,take your pick up Zack Cozart or Todd Fraizer perferable we keep fraizer,Jordan Smith and Logan Ondrusek
Leake: has number 2 Potenial and has great location he would be the second best pitcher on the team.
Alonso. There first basemen for the years to come with Power the best option they have and the cheapest. (dont trust brandon Allen a whole lot for the 1st base job
Fransico: replacement for Mark Reyonlds since it seems there destinesd to trade him and the O’s have had talks about him. Juan has alot of raw power but poor Dispcline which would be fixed.
Cozart or Fraizer: Would replace Drew’s spot for shortstop both look like solid regluars with Fraizer having more popin the bat.
Jordan Smith: A power hard throwing righty who did good being summoned outta Double A straight to the big leagues tower seems to love those kind of guys.
Ondrusek:Very tall with a down word motion to the plate seems like a good MR he had a really good Streak earlier in the year for scoreless innings.
There is no reason for the Braves to trade Alex Gonzales. Try to sign Uribe first. The go to plan B. Tejada, Cabrea etc.
I say the Cardinals go for Uribe, if not J.J. Hardy. Orlando Hudson would be a good player at second.
I think an infield (plus bench) of Albert Pujols, Juan Uribe, Miguel Tejada, David Freese, Brendan Ryan, Skip Schumaker and Daniel Descalso would be one of the better all round IF’s in the NL. Tony loves to move guys around, and you have a nice combination of sluggers, slap hitters and a few good gloves. Plus when Freese inevitably gets injured, Tejada just becomes the every day 3B.
Orlando Hudson and Miguel Tejada for the Cardinals. Sign those 2 to 1 year deals and go for it this year…prove to Pujols you are committed to winning EVERY year and he signs a long term extension making him a Cardinal for life! Lineup would be ridiculous….Hudson, Rasmus, Pujols, Holliday, Tejada, Freese, Molina, Schumaker (RF), Pitcher. Great bench too with Jay, Ryan, Craig….get plenty of AB’s considering LaRussa’s changing line-ups every day.
After the work Skip did to transits to an infield, there is no way in hell they will put him back in the out field.. I dont care what the case is.
Agreed. Jay needs to be your RF. I like the rest though. Wish we could just move Skip…
I agree with this completely, but the problem is that LaRussa’s ego is a big factor in why Skip is still there. He’s been adamant about keeping Skip with the Cards and at 2nd, but I’d rather have Ryan than Skip any day.
If only Tejada could play second…
no no no no no
I am really going to hate it if I see Uribe in Dodger blue and listen to the fans rip off the “UUUU-RIBE” chant. Damn it. I guess we have until Tuesday (I think) to hear if he’ll accept the initial offer that Sabean has laid out for him in terms of arbitration figures.
Offensively, I could see Tejada as a decent replacement for Uribe, but I don’t see it defensively. From what I’ve read, he’s also a wonderful clubhouse guy which is just one of those intangible tools that cannot be measured. When I saw Miggy w/ Oakland he seemed like a good guy, who plays for the right reasons and who likes to have fun, but I’m not totally sold on the idea of replacing the player who hit the second-most home runs and RBIs in the lineup.
Baseball is a business, however, and Uribe’s value has definitely peaked because of his post-season performance. All us Giants fans know Uribe is streaky at the plate; his hits don’t come in bunches, but they all seem to be incredibly clutch. Defensively, his arm is a frigging cannon. He throws just as hard as he swings, and can play 2nd, SS, and 3rd. I’m definitely not happy about the prospect of losing him, mostly due to the fact that it means that we are only bringing back 1 one the players that hit 20+ HRs and 80+ RBIs. It’s obvious that Burrell is not a priority in Sabean’s to-do list.
Conversely, my opinions are coming NOW; and baseball is defiantely a present/future tense performance based sport. Uribe isn’t exactly young. And while the market right now is really horrible for shortstops, there is no way of predicting who is going to be available next offseason and what the health/injury situation is going to look like this upcoming season. So if we lose Uribe and bring in someone else it would definately be a stopgap move, as everyone else has mentioned in this thread. Having said that, out of the selections available this year, I would have to lean more towards Tejada as opposed to Bartlett, simply because he is the closer option for replacing the power that Uribe offers in the lineup. I do like Bartlett because he is a decent defender and has speed, which we defiately lack.
Here I am going on and on and on….these next couple weeks are definitely going to be interesting ones. Lets not forget that the Giants do have an ace-in-the-hole in Mark De Rosa. Im excited to have him in the lineup. But, I tremble with excitement to think about having Huff, Uribe, and De Rosa in the lineup. Its not the best run producing trio, but it is a solid one.
I guess I’ll end my little rant by reiterating what most Giants are thinking right now. I hope that this ends well, and I hope that all of the pieces of the puzzle fall in together appropriately. Hopefully Pablo’s first year wasn’t a flash in the pan, hopefully Torres and Ross get signed and play well. Finally, and I know I’m dreaming here, but the thought of seeing Carl Crawford in a Giants uniform puts a big fat smile on my face.