Tejada - The Infield Version of Barry Zito

Another guy who might be in the mix at third? Miguel Tejada. Heck, I hope the Yankees get him. Check out these numbers:

.534 - .515 - .498 - .442

Those are Miguel Tejada’s slugging percentages from ’04 to ’07. Why do I compare Tejada to Zito? Because both players were a lot better in 2002 than they are today. And granted, the Yankees won’t overpay for Tejada the way the Giants did for Zito (between that contract and the infamous Pierzynski trade, Brian Sabean has fallen bigtime). And he’s an above-average hitter, too. But his numbers, both offensively and defensively, have slipped a lot the past few years. The guy has shown flashes of a bad attitude, but I give him a pass for that. It’s gotta be brutal playing for an idiot like Peter Angelos. However, hard to imagine that playing for Hank Dolan would be much better.

It’s too bad that Miggy’s consecutive-games streak ended last year. You know if the streak was still intact, he’d be a Yankee already. It would be like Matsui before his injury. Tejada’s 0 for his last 25? Gotta keep him in the lineup! Gotta keep the streak alive!

- One thing that worries me: I can see Tejada turning out like Justice and Abreu – a veteran who comes to the Yankees and starts tearing it up. Maybe leaving Baltimore will motivate him to return to old form. But maybe he is actually on the decline. And maybe he’ll be a bad fit for a Yankee team trying to get younger.

One wild card in case the O's want too much for Tejada: Melvin Mora. He's an ex-Met, and another guy Hank thinks can still hit.