Baseball: Tejada wants out of Baltimore, why he should be in Seattle

ok, so Miguel Tejada wants out of Baltimore, here is the how and why that he will land in Seattle

2 years ago when he went to the Orioles Miguel wanted to be a Mariner, he wanted a 6 year contract but the M's would only offer a 4 year deal, now he has 4 years left on his contract and that fits what the Mariners were willing to offer, now IF we can get Miguel back to the west coast the M's could deal young shortstop Bettancourt (great fielder, can't hit a barn with a 2x4) for a power hitting outfielder or a decent starting pitcher....HEY, don't laugh, it could happen!!!!!

he will probably go to Boston for Manny

[Edited on 12/11/2005 by toejam]

Any trade of Tejada for Manny would evoke memories of "No, No, Nanette" for You-Know-Who. Tejada won arguably the worst MVP Award ever--yes, worse than Baylor over Lynn--with a .354 on-base percentage, and had a .348 on-base percentage last year, to go with his .338 career on-base percentage. Now, if he had Mark McGwire's HR % (without cheating) to go with that mediocre OBP, fine and well, but he's not within a mile of that.

I watched him closely when he was with the A's. I recall thinking--as I do with SO many players born in that part of the world, "If he would just learn discipline and not swing at all those balls, he could be a great player." MANNY RAMIREZ has that discipline, and is one of the all-time greatest hitters as a result. (A .599 slugging average, for god's sake!) But Tejada? He's still just another hacker.

And b.t.w., Hootie's favorite stat--runs created--supports me even more than OBP does. (I still think OBP is bigger, but....) Compare Tejada's to Manny's, in almost any season, including especially that "MVP" season, when it was almost 2-1 in Manny's favor for runs created. Now, Hootie knows more about the stat than I do, but I believe it's pretty much weighted to correct for "bias" based on how strong a team one plays for offensively.

Tejada has above-average range, but his fielding % is over 6% below average for a current shortstop. I wouldn't give up anything meaningful to acquire him, unless you have a coach you KNOW he'll listen to about the strike zone, swinging at bad pitches, the value of walks, etc.

Be careful what you wish for, Toejam.

B.H.N.

Yeah, reports are that suprisingly Manny would accept a trade to Baltimore. If this is the case I see this one as a no brainer. Big help to both sides, more so the Bo sox. They lose nothing in the line up, and gain an allstar shortstop. Could not ask for a better deal on the red sox side of things

WRONG. As explained in my post, they lose a TON in the lineup--going from one of the greatest hitters of all time, with a career OBP over 400, and a career slugging of a mindbending .599 (not acquired in Colorado). Tejada is not within 250 light years of those numbers, including in the last two or three years. And his MVP Award in Oakland, a team I follow closely here in Northern California, was one of the worst ever.

As a SS, his fielding percentage is 6% lower than the average contemporary shortstops. That's a big deal, given his position, but hell, let's forget about that. Compare his OBP, Slugging and Runs Created to those of Ramirez. It's like saying Tony Lazzeri is an even trade for Babe Ruth. And if that's an exaggeration, it's a very mild one.

Baseball History Nut.

Daily Southtown columnist Paul Ladewski says there's a trade rumor of the three-team variety currently circulating that would see the Cubs' Mark Prior and the A's Barry Zito dealt to Baltimore, O's hurler Erik Bedard traded to Oakland and O's shortstop Miguel Tejada moved to Chicago.

Daily Southtown.com

Originally posted by chissler
Yeah, reports are that suprisingly Manny would accept a trade to Baltimore. If this is the case I see this one as a no brainer. Big help to both sides, more so the Bo sox. They lose nothing in the line up, and gain an allstar shortstop. Could not ask for a better deal on the red sox side of things

Tejada is no where close to Manny as a hitter. Boston loses alot in the lineup.

TRD,

For a longer version of Hootie's post, read mine up above. To compare Tejada's career offensive stats to those of Ramirez is to engage in a farce, not unlike comparing the career stats of Dave Kingman and Stan Musial. Kingman leads by a large margin in HR percentage; Musial leads in, well, everything else--mostly by tons.

Manny Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters who ever lived, unless and until he gets tarred with the same brush as Palmeiro, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Canseco, etc. To date, there is ZERO evidence to tar Ramirez, and unlike Bonds he didn't magically get 300% better late in baseball life. Of the 11 seasons in which he has played 100 games, he hit over 100 RBI's 10 times, scored 90 runs 9 times, never had a slugging average below .538 (!!!), and only had an OBP below .400 four times (.377 being the only one below .388).

His numbers have slipped very slightly the last few years, which is a natural progression at his age, though they've really only gone from superhuman to awesome.

Yeah, he's a bad fielder, but he's not Lonnie Smith, Orlando Cepeda, Dave Kingman, etc., and he's got a small LF to hide in. His fielding probably costs about 4 runs a year. (5, 4, 7 and 7 errors in the past 4 years; more realistically, that's about 2.5 extra runs over the average LF. His range last year was about 1/35 worse than the average LF, which is probably mainly Fenway, with its tiny LF.

All of that costs his team, what, maybe 8-10 runs a year... in other words, about what Tejada costs by being 6% below league average in feilding % at SHORTSTOP.

Now, compare the differences in their hitting stats, as I outlined them above. It's a joke. It's like taking the 1964 Giants--a team I really loved, where our rabid fans insisted Jimmy Ray Hart, and not Richie Allen, should get Rookie of the Year (by far the two best Rookie 3B's in one year, ever, but through adult eyes I can see Allen was by far the better of the two)--and saying Hart was Mays' equal.

Hart was a great slugger for a rookie, but, as was true throughout his career, an abominable fielder whose only CERTAIN inferior at that position was Joel Youngblood. Any comparison between him and Willie was worse--far worse--than one between Mantle and Maris, and believe me, those are plenty bad.

Regardless of what the future holds for both men....

Hootie has been kind in saying "Tejada is nowhere close to Manny as a hitter." For the reasons I've set out above, that's true, but it's overly kind. Tejada is a terribly undisciplined hitter who has mediocre career stats. Of all the players with at least 10 FULL seasons and no known steroid taint, Manny is #5 all time in career slugging--a huge stat--and of the five above him, three were born before 1910 (the Ruth-god, Gehrig and Foxx), and the fourth was born during WW I (T. Williams).

Oh, and unlike other guys from his "we're-too-manly-to-take-walks part of the world, Ramirez has a whopping .409 career OBP, over half a run higher than Tejada's sorry figure.

If Tejada had his current offensive stats and played SS like Ozzie used to, I would STILL like Ramirez better, as long as he stays clean and won't be washed up any time soon. It would be a great deal tougher call, but that's how I'd make it, and before any of y'all call me insane, read what Bill James documents about just how much good even a great, great SS can do in the field in one year. It may pop your eyes open. It sure did mine.

B.H.N.