Perfect Example Of Tejada Losing a Game!

[OrioleWay27]

Man, my opinion doesn't matter squat, especially with so many posts on this, but Tejada cost us the game last night pure and simple. Not fielding that grounder is an absolute joke and he should be ashamed to call himself a shortstop. He's easily cost us 3 or 4 games this season because of stupid errors and lack of range.

Someone early on said it took a bad hop on him. Get out of here. That was an easy a chance as it gets, and if you pay any attention to Tejada's fielding, grounders take "bad hops" on him all the time. Balls which take legitimately bad hops he has no prayer at, but simple chances are an adventure with him as well.

Luis Hernandez should play short and Tejada should DH. Instantly makes this team better. Fahey should be out of here as soon as Bynum is up, and Tejada should emerge as our primary DH. This won't happen because the Orioles manage their roster worse than anyone in baseball, and Trembley wants to play everyone a little too much for my liking, instead of putting out the best lineup to win every day. And also because Tejada would probably whine like a little girl. Which makes sense, because he fields like a little girl, too.

[Guest oriofan8]

Is anyone here old enough to remember when there were only 3 TV stations....and the President was on ...and that was ALL you could watch for like 2 - 3 HOURS !!!

Eli....you're on every channel....saying the same thing !!

You're not the President....and I'm no longer 12 !!!

Come on !!

[Mackus]

Luis Hernandez should play short and Tejada should DH. Instantly makes this team better.

It instantly makes the team better defensively. But it also instantly makes the team far worse offensively. Hence, it instantly makes the team as a whole worse.

[OrioleWay27]

It instantly makes the team better defensively. But it also instantly makes the team far worse offensively. Hence, it instantly makes the team as a whole worse.

I think you're vastly overestimating the production we've gotten out of DH's this year, especially compared to the top AL teams. You're essentially replacing our DH with Hernandez, and to be honest I don't think that affects the lineup very much. We've had Aubrey Huff, Chris Gomez, Jay Payton, and Jay Gibbons hit there, and none of those guys can hit for any worthwhile power. I don't see how it makes us so much worse offensively.

Part (or a good deal) of this team's downfall has been pathetic production out of DH and LF.

[Mackus]

I think you're vastly overestimating the production we've gotten out of DH's this year, especially compared to the top AL teams. You're essentially replacing our DH with Hernandez, and to be honest I don't think that affects very much. We've had Aubrey Huff, Chris Gomez, Jay Payton, and Jay Gibbons hit there, and none of those guys can hit for any worthwhile power. I don't see how it makes us so much worse offensively.

Part (or a good deal) of this team's downfall has been pathetic production out of DH and LF.

It not kill us quite as much as it would normally this season because of the poor production, but it still definitely hurts us overall. We'd be dropping from about the low 700s OPS we've been getting from the position to Hernandez' offense at SS which would most likely be below a 600 OPS (he could barely have a 600 OPS at Bowie, he's pretty much a worse hitter than Paul Bako, he's THAT bad).

And just comparing it to our DHs is bad logic. The fact that our FO is incapable of finding an acceptable DH doesn't justify making a terrible move and starting a guy at SS who really doesn't have any business even starting at Bowie.

[OrioleWay27]

And just comparing it to our DHs is bad logic. The fact that our FO is incapable of finding an acceptable DH doesn't justify making a terrible move and starting a guy at SS who really doesn't have any business even starting at Bowie.

We're going to just have to agree to disagree. It's not about logic, it's about solving problems. Even then, a comparison to the DH spot is necesssary because that's where Tejada would hit. Our SS fielding is atrocious, and our DH spot has been a problem. You solve both problems by moving Tejada to DH, but create another with a weak-hitting shortstop. However, I think a weak-hitting, great fielding shortstop AND a solid DH is less of a problem than a pathetic DH AND a pathetic fielding, good-hitting shortstop. We just value different things, or emphasize some problems more than others.

Either way, this front office sucks hard and we'll see problems like this the rest of the year.

[DrungoHazewood]

I think you're vastly overestimating the production we've gotten out of DH's this year, especially compared to the top AL teams. You're essentially replacing our DH with Hernandez, and to be honest I don't think that affects the lineup very much. We've had Aubrey Huff, Chris Gomez, Jay Payton, and Jay Gibbons hit there, and none of those guys can hit for any worthwhile power. I don't see how it makes us so much worse offensively.

Part (or a good deal) of this team's downfall has been pathetic production out of DH and LF.

Luis Hernandez has a .580 OPS at Bowie. That's about the same as Paul Bako does in the majors, except Hernandez is doing it against mainly 19-25 year olds many of whom will never see the light of AAA. A reasonable expectation for a major league translation of a .580 OPS in AA is maybe a .500 in the majors. The lowest OPS in the majors among qualifiers is .573. Hernandez is that bad against AA pitching.

It's reasonable to assume he'd be the single worst-hitting regular in the major leagues, and it wouldn't be close.

Oriole DHs, by comparison, have a .694 OPS, roughly 200 points better than what we can expect out of Hernandez.

For this move to begin to make any sense at all Tejada would have to be, by far, the worst fielding shortstop in baseball. He's not.

[OrioleWay27]

Luis Hernandez has a .580 OPS at Bowie. That's about the same as Paul Bako does in the majors, except Hernandez is doing it against mainly 19-25 year olds many of whom will never see the light of AAA. A reasonable expectation for a major league translation of a .580 OPS in AA is maybe a .500 in the majors. The lowest OPS in the majors among qualifiers is .573. Hernandez is that bad against AA pitching.

It's reasonable to assume he'd be the single worst-hitting regular in the major leagues, and it wouldn't be close.

Oriole DHs, by comparison, have a .694 OPS, roughly 200 points better than what we can expect out of Hernandez.

For this move to begin to make any sense at all Tejada would have to be, by far, the worst fielding shortstop in baseball. He's not.

Fair enough, what about Bynum?

Tejada is pretty close to one of the worst fielding shortstops in baseball, given his range.

[DrungoHazewood]

It's not about logic,

Those are easily the most instructive four words of this thread.

[DrungoHazewood]

Fair enough, what about Bynum?

Tejada is pretty close to one of the worst fielding shortstops in baseball, given his range.

From what I can tell Bynum isn't any better than Tejada in the field. And Tejada most certainly isn't anything like the worst shortstop in baseball.

[CrimsonTribe]

We're going to just have to agree to disagree. It's not about logic, it's about solving problems. Even then, a comparison to the DH spot is necesssary because that's where Tejada would hit. Our SS fielding is atrocious, and our DH spot has been a problem. You solve both problems by moving Tejada to DH, but create another with a weak-hitting shortstop. However, I think a weak-hitting, great fielding shortstop AND a solid DH is less of a problem than a pathetic DH AND a pathetic fielding, good-hitting shortstop. We just value different things, or emphasize some problems more than others.

Either way, this front office sucks hard and we'll see problems like this the rest of the year.

When in Rome...

[Mackus]

Tejada is pretty close to one of the worst fielding shortstops in baseball, given his range.

I suppose he's pretty close, if you consider within about 15 of the worst "pretty close"

Moving Tejada to DH and Hernandez to SS makes us worse, thats really not debateable. But, lets just say it made us exactly even for the remainder of the season for arguments sake. It still would be a bad move b/c it lowers Tejada's trade value.

The smart thing to do is play out the season, since it doesn't matter anyways. Then in the offseason, you trade Tejada and get back either a SP or OF (if its a SP, then Cabrera is dealt for an OF/DH). You can then go out and try to make a move for a SS who is more defensive minded.

Theres nothing wrong with a defense first SS, thats not the argument we are all making here. The problem is putting someone who is so utterly terrible with the bat at SS. Hernandez could be a better fielder than Ozzie Smith and Mark Belanger's love child and still cost us several wins a season because he is so terrible offensively. Hernandez really doesn't even deserve to start at Bowie, its laughable to suggest starting him in Baltimore.

There simply isn't anywhere that Miguel Tejada could play in Baltimore other than SS that doesn't hurt the team overall if we fill SS with an in-house player. You have to go outside the organization and get a SS to make moving Tejada from SS an even remotely worthwhile move.

[MikeAD]

I find it immensely depressing that these threads keep getting more and more anti-Tejada supporters.

Its as simple as his ammount of errors and his fielding percentage...or even his ammount of Double Plays turned.

How anyone can look at his stats (YES HIS STATS) and say that he is even in the bottom half of the league is beyond me.

Yes he made an error last night, and maybe he will make one tommorow or a week from now too. But come on. For every ball that gets buy him he makes two more stellar plays that half of the league doesn't even get close to, so get over it. And to top that off, hes a damn good offensive SS.

I've posted this exact link FIVE times now on Eli's threads.

I know 12 posts will come after this that "its not about stats" but right now YES IT IS.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding?groupId=7&sortColumn=fieldingPct&sortOrder=true&split=82&qualified=null&season=2007&seasonType=2

And don't even try to use the "he was on the DL for a month" excuse, because if you average out the innings hes still in the bottom three in erros and top five in percentage.

This just keeps getting more and more inane.

[Chollie Eckman]

Heaven forbid when Hernandez makes an error in Sept. that costs us a game. LOL.

My take on all of this is trade Tejada and Gibbons for Jay Bruce.

[Mackus]

My take on all of this is trade Tejada and Gibbons for Jay Bruce.

Wayne Krivsky is pretty dumb, but no way would he be dumb enough to do that trade.