The Orioles have announced that they’ve selected Ruben Tejada’s contract and designated fellow infielder Paul Janish for assignment. The O’s just acquired Tejada from the Yankees over the weekend in a minor deal.
Tejada struggled in brief stints with the Cardinals and Giants last season but hit well for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton, batting .269/.365/.462. He’s still just 27 and built a decent track record over parts of six seasons with the Mets, posting a .330 OBP with defensive performances at shortstop that advanced metrics pegged as being about average until his last season there, when they sagged badly.
The Orioles selected Janish’s contract on May 21 after Ryan Flaherty hit the DL, and Janish has played sparingly since then. The light-hitting 34-year-old, once a bench fixture with the Reds and Braves, has collected fewer than 100 plate appearances in three seasons in the Orioles organization. He batted .255/.364/.378 in 34 games with Triple-A Norfolk earlier this season but has a career OPS of .651 at Triple-A and .570 in the Majors.
Dang it, I always liked Paul Janish. He was never that great with the bat but he played solid defense.
Tejada is basically a slightly-better hitting version of Janish. Both defense-first players with below-average bats, but Tejada doesn’t hurt a team as much with his bat as Janish did.
Tejada is definitely not a defensive-first player.
Good for Ruben. Hope he does well. Showed flashes of an everyday player with the Mets. Or at least a solid bench guy.
Yeah, hope he does well. He wasn’t as bad as a depth piece for the Giants last year as the article (or numbers) seems to imply. He also has still has a few years on the good side of 30. Hopefully he can contribute.
Not sure this is an upgrade for the Os right now, but Tejada is a veteran player and can fill the same spot as Janish. Hoping Tejada returns to the player he was before the cheap slide by Utley.
Neither Ryan Flaherty nor Ruben Tejada have ever been very good players. If the O’s are looking for a sub, why not pull from their minor league affiliates? Erick Salcedo looks better than Flaherty-Tejada.