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Monday, January 25, 2010Miguel Tejada Returns To Baltimore OriolesPosted by Tommy Rancel at 6:00amTwo years after being traded from Baltimore to Houston, Miguel Tejada returns to the Orioles on a one-year contract worth six million dollars. Baltimore is basically getting the same 2.5 WAR player they dealt away. Sure, he's aged four years in the two seasons since his departure, but the production is similar. In his last season as Orioles' shortstop, Tejada hit .296/.357/.332 (.799 OPS). This past season with the Astros, he hit .313/.340/.455(.795 OPS); the difference in wOBA is just one point. One thing that has changed is Tejada's patience or lack there of. Never one to take many walks to begin with, Tejada posted back to back career lows in terms of walks taken. After setting the bar low at 3.6% in 2008, Miggy walked just 2.8% of the time in 2009. Coinciding with the decrease in walks is an increase in hacks. Tejada swung at pitches outside of the zone nearly 33% of the time in the past two years, up nearly 8% over his career number. Tejada has also lost some power since his days in Oakland. Whether that is a natural regression or something else, I'll leave that for you to decide. What we do know is Tejada went from a .200 ISO/.500 slugger to a .150 ISO/.450 hitter. Although he is a former MVP in the American League and has played in the AL East before, he is sure to miss playing his home games in Minute Maid Park. Last season he hit .343/.367/.512 at home, but just .283/.313/.395 on the road. Still, he should welcome a return to Baltimore since he has hit very well in Camden Yards, owning a slash line of .321/.370/.505 in 340 games at the ballpark. After spending over 16,000 innings at shortstop, Tejada will be asked to slide over to third base; something he was reluctant to do during his first stint in Baltimore. He seems receptive to the move now, and defensively it's likely the right choice for him as well as the team. That said, his value at the hot corner diminishes quite a bit from shortstop, although he will have remaining eligibility at his former position. Within his own division he is the fourth best third basemen behind Alex Rodriguez, Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre. From there he is still behind names like: Michael Young, Brandon Inge and Chone Figgins. Nonetheless, Baltimore has a good lineup, and one would figure Tejada to hit somewhere between 5-7 in the lineup. The opportunities to drive in some runs in a talented lineup in addition to holding shortstop eligibility make him worthy of a later-round flier. Tommy Rancel is the Editor-In-Chief of DRaysBay as well as a contributor at Beyond the Box Score Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next Post: Ball On a Budget League>> <<Previous Post: Target Field diagram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
