Strange?
Compared to the man taking ground balls on a back field, seeing the Orioles train here after 14 years in Fort Lauderdale is not strange.
Compared to who was leading the Orioles’ base-running drills not long ago, seeing a record number of below-60-degree days in Florida is not strange.
“No, no, it’s not strange,” protested the old infielder, of his own situation, as he sits in front of another locker on another spring day, his career now 14 years down the road. “Because baseball is always a business.
“Even for as many years as you play, for as many teams as you play, you never say you can’t come back.”
Were this any old infielder in any old uniform, the words would make sense and easily roll away.
That this is Miguel Tejada speaking, and that he’s doing it while again wearing Orioles threads?
That’s not only strange, it’s borderline twisted enough to come straight from the pages of Edgar Allan Poe.
When he left the Orioles following the 2007 season, this man wasn’t so much traded as excommunicated.
Then, Tejada represented all that was rotten with the old Orioles. The steroid flap with Rafael Palmeiro. The losing. The diminishing-returns contract (six years, $72 million). The losing.
The Mitchell Report, which fingered Tejada as having been provided with steroids and human growth hormone from former teammate Adam Piatt, was released just one day after O’s president Andy MacPhail brilliantly found a stooge on which to unload the remainder of that contract (thanks, Houston!).
They did everything but change the locks at Camden Yards after Tejada left.
And now … come again?
“It’s weird,” All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts said. “Because sometimes it feels like he hasn’t been gone at all. And sometimes it seems like he’s been gone forever.
“Many days, it feels like he’s still in the middle of that six-year contract.”
Instead, he’s back on a one-year, $6 million deal, and he’s learning a position he resisted for years: Third base.
“I’m 35,” said Tejada, former shortstop and the 2002 AL Most Valuable Player in Oakland. “I think playing shortstop at 35 every day would be a little hard.
“I think it was time to try their offer to play third base. So I take it.”
Tejada says he had five other free-agent offers over the winter, all financially similar, but that he opted for Baltimore because he had been comfortable there and it was a chance to play every day.
“When I leave here, I never asked to leave,” he said. “I just got traded, you know?”
But the shadows followed him all the way to Texas. One year ago February, he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the use of performance-enhancing drugs and admitted purchasing what he believed was HGH (though he maintains he threw it away). He was sentenced to one year’s probation.
It was the most trying time of his life, though he did hit .313 with 14 homers and 86 RBI for the Astros.
“It was real tough,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad I came to spring training just thinking about playing baseball this year. I went through this stuff the last five years. Now it’s over. Now my mind is clear.”
Roberts, Nick Markakis and pitcher Jeremy Guthrie are the only Orioles left over from Tejada’s first tour in Baltimore. That’s how thoroughly the Orioles have cleaned house since ’07.
“When he left, I thought that was the last time I’d ever be teammates with him, that’s for sure,” Roberts said. “I think this will work out great for both parties. The fact that we traded him two years ago for a good group of players [the Orioles received five players in return, including outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate and minor league third baseman Michael Costanzo] … now it’s come full circle.”
It wasn’t exactly MacPhail’s long-range plan.
“I’m generally not predisposed that way,” MacPhail said of reacquiring players he once dealt. “But you take it on a case-by-case basis.
“In this case, we know Miggy and he brought the things we knew we were looking for.”
If things go according to plan, Brandon Snyder, a first-round pick in 2005, will be playing first base for the O’s in the near future and Josh Bell, acquired from the Dodgers in the George Sherrill deal, will be playing third.
But neither is ready yet, which is why Tejada and Garrett Atkins ($4.5 million) are here on one-year deals.
Sleeper … Brian Matusz: He and teammate Chris Tillman are so darn talented that they could make a bad team mediocre. If that happens, Matusz could win AL Rookie of the Year and both pitchers could be instant hits in all Fantasy leagues. Both a projected to be late-round picks at this point. This might be the only time we say that about either for the next five years. Bust … Mike Gonzalez: He had issues holding down the closer’s role with the Braves and he enters spring training as the odds-on-favorite to open in the role with the Orioles. We cannot yet be sure how consistently they might win and we certainly cannot guarantee Gonzalez will hold the closer’s job through spring training, much less the whole season. Breakout … Adam Jones: Jones still has some cynics, if not detractors, and will be a bargain even in the middle rounds. If you followed us last spring, you know all about how we featured him as a sleeper for Fantasy 2009. The 24-year-old physical freak is capable of going .290-25-100-100-20 Top Orioles Prospects (2010 destination) 1. Brian Matusz, SP, Majors 2. Jake Arrieta, SP, Triple-A 3. Brandon Erbe, SP, Triple-A 4. Josh Bell, 3B, Triple-A 5. Troy Patton, SP, Triple-A Orioles outlook | 2010 Draft Prep Guide
“What made Atkins attractive was that he could play first or third base,” said MacPhail, who signed Atkins on Dec. 18.
That gave the Orioles the ability, as the winter deepened, to pursue either a first or a third baseman. They had some interest in Adrian Beltre, but he had his sights set on Boston. On Jan. 25, they decided to take another plunge with Tejada.
“He was immensely popular in our clubhouse, and he helps us against left-handers,” MacPhail said. “When I talked to him about playing third base a few years ago, he wasn’t ready to make that move. He went to Houston and was an All-Star shortstop for a couple of years, so he probably was right.”
Now, there is no question that a new chapter is beginning.
Tejada is fielding ground balls at third from coach Juan Samuel early each morning.
“Everything is going to be difficult at third base,” acknowledged Tejada, who fielded one bouncer cleanly in the first inning but then booted one in the third Wednesday in the Orioles’ Grapefruit League opener against Tampa Bay.
“I have to work hard, like I did at shortstop, because every play will be big. When to charge bunts and when to go back to the base on bunts, that’s going to be hard.”
He’s out front in the base-running drills, which manager Dave Trembley appreciates because the Orioles were butchers on the base paths a year ago.
“More than one time, he’s told me that he wants to win,” Trembley said. “That’s what puts a smile on my face. He wants to win.”
The Orioles are pulling for him.
Some, because this team really needs to win.
“I love it,” Gold Glove center fielder Adam Jones said. “I love him coming here.”
And some because, well, the team really needs to win because the guy has been through so much over the past five years.
“He’s handled it with grace,” said Roberts, who also was named in the Mitchell Report. “I think he’s accepted responsibility for anything he’s done wrong. I think people respect him for that. It would be nice if people would accept him.
“In Baltimore, too, because he went out with a bad name. And, really, in my eyes, it was undeserved. He busted his butt. He made a commitment to bring this franchise back to where it should be.”
