Tuesday May 15th, 2012

Sam Evans: He’s baaaack! Miguel Tejada’s career has gone down the path that most MLB superstars travel as they get older. Once the best-hitting shortstop in the league, Tejada has now morphed into a weak-hitting veteran who can no longer get on base as easily. However, Tejada can still provide value to a rebuilding team who needs a veteran middle infielder to back up their young starters. The Orioles recently signed Tejada to a low-risk minor league deal, and he has a decent chance of playing in the majors before mid-season.

Miguel Tejada used to be a truly outstanding hitter. From 2001 to 2006, Tejada didn’t miss one game. As a primarily offensive-minded player, Tejada has been nominated to six All-Star games, one of which he was named MVP. He’s also won a Home Run Derby and two Silver Slugger awards. Not to mention, Tejada was the 2002 A.L. MVP, and he has tallied four 30+ home run seasons. However, after the 2006 season, Tejada started to show signs of his age.

After the 2003 season in which Tejada played with the Athletics, “La Gua Gua” (Tejada’s nickname in Spanish which is the name for a public bus in the Dominican Republic, where Tejada was born), signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Looking back at it, Tejada was probably worth the six-year, $72 million contract that he signed. Until Tejada started to struggle, Orioles fans had no reason to dislike his flashy style of play. Unfortunately, after a couple of years where the Orioles were in the basement of the A.L. East, Tejada was traded. After a couple of years with the Astros, Tejada returned to Baltimore on a one-year deal for the 2010 season. After a fairly successful first half, Tejada was shipped to San Diego at the trade deadline.

In 2011 with the Giants, Tejada hit .239 with a 56 wRC+. He’s never been great at drawing walks, but in 2011 Tejada’s walk rate slipped to 3.5%. Giants’ fans were regularly frustrated by Manager Bruce Bochy consistently putting Miguel Tejada in the lineup. Tejada played ninety-one games and was worth 0.0 WAR, assuming his defense was slightly above-average.

When the Orioles signed the thirty-seven year old Tejada to a minor-league deal a couple of days ago, I was surprised at the sour reaction by some Orioles fans. Minor league contracts are always low-risk and by signing Tejada, the Orioles are in no way guaranteeing that Tejada will play in the majors. Not to mention, the Orioles are very thin, in terms of their left side of the infield depth. Even if he’s probably not going to play like a superstar, or even an average third basemen, the Orioles don’t have many other options.

Miguel Tejada’s season is starting in Extended Spring Training. If he can get back into better shape, and dominate the young pitchers, Tejada should be promoted to Triple-A immediately. With Mark Reynolds on the 15-day Disabled List with a pulled rib, the Orioles need all the help they can get at third base. The chances of Tejada returning to his previous form are slim, but the Orioles GM Dan Duquette made an intelligent move by signing Tejada to provide organizational depth.

***Today’s feature was prepared by our Baseball Writer, Sam Evans.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Sam on Twitter (@RJA206)***

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