Tejada: Unhappy in Baltimore; Detroit an option?
Two years ago, the Tigers made a pitch for free agent Miguel Tejada. They were coming off that dreadful 43-119 season. Tejada, the crown jewel of free agents that winter, was coming off an MVP season with the Oakland A's. So, naturally, he told the Tigers to stuff their offer in their protective cup.
Today, Tejada, who signed with the Baltimore Orioles that winter to the tune of six years and $72 million, is so unhappy and disgusted with the Orioles that he would like to be traded. Seems Miguel doesn't think the O's have done enough -- actually, anything at all -- to strengthen their club. He looks around his division and sees the Yankees and the Red Sox -- powers already -- and if that isn't bad enough, the mediocre Toronto Blue Jays have gone on a spending spree that would make Paris Hilton blush.
"I don't want to say anything bad that can hurt my teammates, but look at Toronto, they have strengthened themselves and we haven't done anything," said Tejada, who hit .305 last season with 26 homers and 98 RBIs.
So now Tejada wants a "change of scenery."
I wonder if the Tigers look any more attractive to him nowadays.
I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head at Tejada. Maybe I should do both. The trouble with signing with the Orioles is two-fold: Yankees and Red Sox. Period. He knew ahead of time that contending in the East was always going to be difficult as long as those two teams were still allowed in the league. The AL Central, despite the White Sox winning the World Series, is no AL East, let's face it. Any division in which even the Tigers can talk bravely of making noise isn't worth a hill of beans, in my book.
Now, that's not to say that Tejada's desire to win and to see his team make a splash in the offseason is a negative thing. Maybe, frankly, if they hadn't comitted $72 million to him, then they'd be able to be more active in the free agent and trade markets. Who knows.
Regardless, an unhappy Tejada isn't what the Orioles need, so he kind of has his team under the barrel after making his feelings public fodder.
Isn't owning a baseball team fun? You get to pay guys $12 million per year AND be hostage to them at the same time.
1 comment:
I love it when guys go for the money, only to realize that those contracts prevent their teams from winning.
Remind us why Baltimore looked better than Detroit, Miggy?
Fortunately for him, Tejada is one of the rare players who lived up to the free-agent bucks, so another team will likely bail him out of his perceived purgatory.
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