Cubs could have interest in Tejada

[Pierzynski 12]

DALLAS — The Cubs losing out on shortstop Rafael Furcal could turn out to be the biggest blessing in disguise for general manager Jim Hendry.

 

That’s because there might be another, better, shortstop on the market. His name is Miguel Tejada.

 

If the reports out of the Dominican Republic and Baltimore are to be believed, Tejada is fed up with the seemingly directionless Baltimore Orioles and wants out after only two years there.

 

Knowing that Tejada is a winning ballplayer with impeccable character, it’s not hard to believe that he is fed up.

 

If Tejada indeed does demand a trade, look for the Cubs to be first in line and look for them to have a very good shot at landing Tejada.

 

Hendry was willing to go as high as $57.5 million and up to six years for Furcal.

 

Tejada left the Oakland Athletics after 2003 to sign a six-year, $72 million contract with the Orioles. So the money isn’t a problem, and the betting here is that the Cubs could get the O’s to pony up some of the dough.

 

From the Orioles’ standpoint, they’re going to want nothing to do with dealing Tejada to their friends in the American League East: the Yankees or the Red Sox. They’ll probably want to get him out of the AL altogether.

 

Furcal left the Atlanta Braves to go to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Braves wasted no time replacing him, getting Edgar Renteria from the Red Sox at the just-concluded winter meetings.

 

So Tejada and the Cubs seem a perfect match.

 

Of course, the Orioles are going to want something good in return for Tejada. The Cubs still have young pitching to deal, and to have this once-in-a-lifetime shot to get a player the caliber of Tejada, Hendry also might be willing to part with some of the emerging position-player talent in the Cubs’ minor-league system.

 

That minor-league system was stocked, so to speak, by John Stockstill, who just left as the Cubs’ scouting director to take an assistant GM job with the Orioles.

 

Here’s another reason this whole Furcal thing might be a blessing: Tejada is a better player.

 

Let’s look at their numbers. In 154 games this year, Furcal batted .284 with 12 home runs, 58 RBI and an on-base percentage of .348. He made only 15 errors.

 

Tejada played in all 162 games for the Orioles, batting .304 with 26 homers, 98 RBI and a .349 OBP. He committed 22 errors.

 

Tejada is also a leader who would have an immediate positive impact in the Cubs’ clubhouse, a clubhouse that also will benefit from the addition of center fielder Juan Pierre, whom Hendry pried from the Florida Marlins.

 

Going third to first across the diamond, the Cubs would have Aramis Ramirez at third base, Tejada at shortstop, a combination of Ronny Cedeno and Neifi Perez at second base and Derrek Lee at first.

 

That’s pretty good both offensively and defensively.

 

A trade for Tejada, if indeed he’s serious about wanting out, will take some time to develop. Hendry has proven to be a pretty shrewd and creative wheeler-dealer in his tenure as Cubs GM. Just a few days ago, Hendry was in a funk over losing Furcal to the Dodgers.

 

Sometime before or after Christmas, he could be counting his blessings, both the easy-to-see kind and the blessings in disguise.

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/beatwrit...miles&id=130468

[Guest JimH]

Totally misleading thread title, as is unfortunately becoming more and more common on this board.

 

This column, which I read this morning, is a columnist speculating and nothing more.

[Pierzynski 12]

Totally misleading thread title, as is unfortunately becoming more and more common on this board.

 

This column, which I read this morning, is a columnist speculating and nothing more.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Alot of people speculate :rolly

[Pierzynski 12]

I agree.

 

Fixed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh no it's specualtion,omg...........

[Pierzynski 12]

If you dont get it, dont make threads. Its really that simple.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sure.

Edited December 11, 2005 by Pierzynski 12

[ZoomSlowik]

I'm sick of people overreacting to a disgruntled player and immediately trying to figure out where he'll go. If every player that ever got pissed with his team got dealt, at a minimum Manny, Ichiro, and Miguel Cabrera would be somewhere else, and that's just from this year. The Cubs probably don't have the kind of talent necessary to acquire Tejada, unless they want to deal Prior or Zambrano. The O's aren't just going to give away an all-star calibur SS. More importantly, the Cubs have not shown the ability in recent history to sign or trade for the big name superstar player that everyone thinks they're going to get. The Cubs just don't have the balls to make the moves that they really should. If they got everyone that people thought they'd get, the Cubs would have an infield of Rolen, Tejada, Renteria at second, Furcal as the utility infielder, Thome at first, Beltran in center, and Pudge behind the plate.

[Yoda]

I'm sick of people overreacting to a disgruntled player and immediately trying to figure out where he'll go. If every player that ever got pissed with his team got dealt, at a minimum Manny, Ichiro, and Miguel Cabrera would be somewhere else, and that's just from this year. The Cubs probably don't have the kind of talent necessary to acquire Tejada, unless they want to deal Prior or Zambrano. The O's aren't just going to give away an all-star calibur SS. More importantly, the Cubs have not shown the ability in recent history to sign or trade for the big name superstar player that everyone thinks they're going to get. The Cubs just don't have the balls to make the moves that they really should. If they got everyone that people thought they'd get, the Cubs would have an infield of Rolen, Tejada, Renteria at second, Furcal as the utility infielder, Thome at first, Beltran in center, and Pudge behind the plate.

 

Well said. Though it’s pretty much inevitable that people are going to have the initiative of a certain player going somewhere even though most of the time it doesn’t happen.

 

I myself feel sick when thinking about Tejada moving to the North side of Chicago. Tejada in a Cub uniform? Blah! :puke

 

Though it doesn’t hurt to speculate where a player might end up. But in this case, at least for me, it does hurt. I sure as hell wouldn't want Tejada playing for the North Siders.

[YASNY]

Well said. Though it’s pretty much inevitable that people are going to have the initiative of a certain player going somewhere even though most of the time it doesn’t happen.

 

I myself feel sick when thinking about Tejada moving to the North side of Chicago. Tejada in a Cub uniform? Blah!  :puke

 

Though it doesn’t hurt to speculate where a player might end up. But in this case, at least for me, it does hurt. I sure as hell wouldn't want Tejada playing for the North Siders.

 

Why? Who cares who plays on the north side?

[The Critic]

Let 'em get a Yankee-seque All Star team - it won't matter.

They're cursed by a goat, a black cat, a Gatorade-soaked glove, a fan and a baseball, remember?

[witesoxfan]

Hell let them get Tejada.

 

It would mean no Carlos insanity or Mark the Savior on the North Side anymore. I'm all for them dealing from a position of weakness, personally.

[Chisoxfn]

Just want to point out that the Angels have supposedly had prelinary discussions with the O's about Tejada. The O's have said that Cabrerra and a 1st base prospect (the Angels would like it to be Erstad, but the O's would like Kochman) would likely get the deal done.

 

The Angels have also had serious talks with the O's about a Javy Lopez for Darin Erstad swap.

[KevHead0881]

I highly doubt that Tejada will be anywhere but Baltimore next season. He already appears to be backing off his "trade demands" and just wanted to wake up ownership. Jayson Stark talks about the chances of this happening:

 

Orioles' pacifying of Tejada will take some convincing

 

Melvin Mora had this to say...

 

Mora told the Washington Post that Tejada didn't want to be traded, but "if the front office doesn't convince him they want to win, then he wants a trade."

 

Hardly sounds like Tejada is demanding a trade. Sounds more like he's trying to push Angelos and Co. to start making some moves. The one thing we know for sure is that he isn't happy. Then again, who is in Baltimore?

[Jordan4life_2007]

ESPN news is reporting that Tejada denies ever asking for a trade.

[Jordan4life_2007]

BALTIMORE -- Miguel Tejada backpedaled on Sunday, telling Comcast SportsNet that he didn't ask for a trade but simply wanted to see the Orioles make more of an effort to improve.

"I never said I wanted to be traded," Tejada said in a talk with CSN reporter Kelli Johnson. "I said I want to see a better team. I don't want to keep losing like we have the past two years."

 

He's not going anywhere.

[Chisoxfn]

If the Cubs gave up Zambrono or Prior for Tejada, I'd laugh.

[BHAMBARONS]

ESPN news is reporting that Tejada denies ever asking for a trade.

 

 

I think this was meant to get King Peter to actually do something to fix the team which means to actually get some pitching which for some reason doesn't think the O's need now maybe Angelos will get some pitching. When I first seen the story I couldn't believe Miguel would demand a trade and now it looks like he didn't

[YASNY]

If the Cubs gave up Zambrono or Prior for Tejada, I'd laugh.

 

Phil Rogers is advocating they trade Zambrano to get Tejada.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

[Rowand44]

Phil Rogers is advocating they trade Zambrano to get Tejada.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

That would not be smart on the Cubs part.

[IlliniKrush]

I read that article. Absolutely ridiculous

 

By his logic, they should trade wood, prior, and zambrano for position players due to their higher win shares totals.

 

Also, he advocates getting rid of great starting pitchers because they will become expensive pretty soon. We're talking about the Cubs here, not the Royals.

[Rowand44]

I read that article. Absolutely ridiculous

 

By his logic, they should trade wood, prior, and zambrano for position players due to their higher win shares totals.

 

Also, he advocates getting rid of great starting pitchers because they will become expensive pretty soon. We're talking about the Cubs here, not the Royals.

That article is horrible. You don't give up a stud starting pitcher for a stud position player, ever.

[Chisoxfn]

Phil Rogers is advocating they trade Zambrano to get Tejada.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

That would be dumb as stone. Zambrano is a hell of a pitcher and honestly he's better than any of the 5 guys we have on the southside, imo. The guys a beast and he's still young and I don't think he's paid like a front line pitcher (yet).

[KevHead0881]

That would be dumb as stone.  Zambrano is a hell of a pitcher and honestly he's better than any of the 5 guys we have on the southside, imo.  The guys a beast and he's still young and I don't think he's paid like a front line pitcher (yet).

 

If he was mentally stable, he'd be perfect.

[whitesoxfan101]

As long as the Cubs continue to have no interest in winning, like it's been the last almost century now, it's all good.

[mr_genius]

  Zambrano is a hell of a pitcher and honestly he's better than any of the 5 guys we have on the southside

 

 

banned