Defensive Indifference

In another big MLB move this winter, the Astros traded for 31 year old Miguel Tejada yesterday in exchange for five players, most notably Luke Scott and Troy Patton. I love this story for so many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Tejada was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report, which came out less than 24 hours after the deal was struck.

So what else about this story makes me want to have its children? Well, for one thing, it would have been stupid even if Tejada hadn’t been named by the Mitchell Report. The Astros traded 2 of their top 10 prospects from an already bare system (Troy Patton and Michael Costanzo), along with three players that are at least capable of being useful role players (Luke Scott, Dennis Sarfate, and Matt Albers), all for a 31-year old shortstop coming off an injury plagued season. Granted, Tejada is a well-above average shortstop offensively, but he is on the decline both offensively, defensively, and health-wise.

Perhaps the funniest thing about this whole story is the fact that, even if he lives up to the best of expectations, Tejada won’t be nearly enough to make the Astros into a good baseball team. Sure, Tejada will make the Astros offense pretty solid—what with Berkman, Lee, and Pence as well—but the pitching rotation remains Roy Oswalt and pretty much nothing else. In other words, even with great production from Tejada, the Astros aren’t winning pennants anytime soon.

So what’s the bottom line? The Astros traded a way a few good prospects and a lot of organizational depth for a decent but aging shortstop who will do very little to help their chances of winning in the short term.

I think it’s now fair to say that Ed Wade is a shitty GM. I mean, come on dude, did you already know and just not give a shit that Tejada used steroids? Or could you honestly just not have waited one day to see if he was named? Either way, I think you suck at your job. Do yourself a favor and read up on something called a ‘long-term plan’. Keeping your club in a perpetual state of mediocrity does not qualify as one.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 6:29 pm and is filed under PEDs, Dumb GMs, Astros, MLB news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.