Tejeda "Optioned" To AAA; Tex and A-Rod Notes
Per Dave Sessions of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, starter Robinson Tejeda has been "optioned" to Triple-A Oklahoma, with right-hander Wes Littleton being recalled from the minors to take his place on the 25-man roster. Although Sessions first reported that the move was to mainly serve as a "wake-up call" to Tejeda, it appears that it was designed to address the bullpen depth, with Aki Otsuka apparently being held out of action until after the All-Star break.
Instead of reporting to Oklahoma, Tejeda will stay with the team, and will throw at least a couple of bullpen sessions with pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti. In his last nine starts, Tejeda is 1-5 with a 9.15 ERA and 2.23 WHIP, which is, of course, completely unacceptable. Texas still plans to add him back to the rotation as the #5 starter after the All-Star break, which would make his next scheduled start on July 17th in Oakland.
Mark Teixeira continues to be quite open to the media concerning his desire to play for the Baltimore Orioles, with the following comments showing up in today's Washington Post:
"Baltimore, in the future, it's a place I'd love to look at," Teixeira said. "I don't want to talk too much about it. I don't want anything to be a distraction to my team. In a year and a half, we can have a lot of fun conversations."
Honestly, who discusses openly how much they'd like to play for a different team when they still have a year and a half left remaining on their current contract? I can't remember an recent example that was this blatant. Tex is obviously going to leave after 2008, and I'm praying that some GM will bite and give the Rangers the package of prospects they're looking for.
Despite reports to the contrary by the New York Times last week, Ken Rosenthal thinks that the Yankees could still get involved in the running for Teixeira, especially if Boston does first. Unfortunately, Rosenthal says Boston refuses to deal away top prospects like Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury or Clay Buchholz. Even worse, Rosenthal names Mike Lowell as a possible trade piece for Teixeira, who is a free agent after this season.
If Mike Lowell and some B-class prospects are all the Rangers can get for Tex, I'd rather just hold onto him. This really isn't encouraging news for his trade value around the league, to say the least.
And finally, Tara Sullivan of the Bergen Record dropped a bombshell of a paragraph today:
According to a major league source, Rangers owner Tom Hicks has expressed interest in reacquiring Rodriguez, with a willingness to put a 10-year contract on the table. Insiders say Hicks, on the rebound from some early millennium financial woes, wouldn't mind getting some return on the contract he still is partly responsible for financially.
You know, for a guy who apparently knows enough about finance to make billions of dollars, Hicks sure doesn't understand the economic concept of a "sunk cost" very well. Unless Hicks plans on expanding the rest of the payroll equally, bringing A-Rod back is an awful, awful idea.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osnotes706,0,7896615.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines
"Several Orioles, including interim manager Dave Trembley, greeted Teixeira while he was taking batting practice before the game. The first baseman, hitting .302 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs, will play in a game on a rehabilitation assignment Wednesday. Asked if he still roots for the Orioles, Teixeira said, "without a doubt."
I have a strong feeling that internally, the Rangers front office is not happy at all about this. We knew he wanted to play for the Orioles someday, but Tex is really pushing the limit here with his remarks.