I thought the O’s did well when we sent Miguel Tejada to the Astros. Now I like the trade even more:
The Houston Astros shortstop told the Oakland Athletics when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1993 that he was 17. But he was actually 19, meaning he is now 33, two years older than his listed age in the Astros’ media guide and other baseball records.
“I’m a poor kid that wanted to sign,” Tejada told the Houston Chronicle about how he followed a coach’s advice in shaving two years off his age. “I’m feeling free now. It’s something that I had in my mind.”
I applaud the man for his honesty, certainly, but sucks for the Astros. This might explain why his offense has declined in recent years (although there are other, more nefarious reasons why that might be).
Its about time. Miguel Tejada has been rumored to be gone all off season and now he finally is: sent to the Astros for a package of 5 players (Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate, and Mike Costanzo). I’ve only ever heard of Scott and he’s a 29 year old outfielder, which doesnt excite me.
Tim Dierkes says this though:
That’s a fine haul for Baltimore. The Astros pretty much cleaned out their farm system for two years of an average-hitting third baseman. The average NL 3B had an .804 OPS in ‘07; Tejada was at .799 in the AL. I know some readers think I’m an Astro-hater but that’s not the case. I just think they gave up way too much here. Patton was ranked their third best prospect by Baseball America, Costanzo sixth. Scott is a cheap quality regular, and Albers was third on the team’s 2007 top prospect list.
That’s comforting but I feel similar to Roch:
My first reaction is one of disappointment, but I also know it’s unfair. I like Scott and probably will like him more in the coming months. But this isn’t exactly a sexy trade. It’s nowhere near being a blockbuster.
Obviously I don’t know how serious discussions got with the Angels but Brandon Wood or Nick Adenhart would have seemed like a better haul then the above Astros. Oh well.
Camden Chat passes along this link to John Sickel’s review of the Astro’s farm system for 2008, looks like we got their #1 and #5 prospects. Thats good.