With Jhonny Peralta out, likely until midseason, the St. Louis Cardinals, uncertain about their current options, had been looking outside the organization for help.
And now they’ve got their man.
Cards GM John Mozeliak had previously inquired with the Mets about Tejada, but nothing had developed. But, patience has paid off.
The Mets released Tejada, and Mo signed him for just $1.5 million. The price is right, and he offers the added flexibility of playing all three non-1B infield positions, meaning the Cards can spell Matt Carpenter a bit with him too. With Pete Kozma no longer there, that’s a bit of extra benefit. He played 19 games there for the Mets last year; Greg Garcia had 4 at the hot corner for the Cards.
At the same time, this leaves open what Mo thinks about the longer term future of Garcia and Aledmys Diaz. It seems more likely that Diaz spends the whole year down at Memphis, unless something happens to Kolten Wong. Garcia could be the third option at SS if the Cards try Jedd Gyorko there as a backup, and certainly the third option at both second and third for this year.
Fan Interference 
Who would have seen that one coming?
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Well, Tejada just isn’t any good. I don’t think this says anything about the long-term future of anyone. Tejada is a FA after the year, and his best offer was $1.5M. That is end-of-the-bench utility man money…not starter money, not useful utility man money….but depth I-guess-we-need-someone-that-can-actually-play-SS money. He get’s on base okay, and if he’s healthy, he can play roughly league-average SS….but he has no power at all and has no business playing any non-SS positions.
My guess is that they would prefer to have Diaz taking regular ABs somewhere and didn’t want to have him be the only real option at SS. Garcia can’t play SS, he has stone hands and kinda sucks at 2B and 3B, too. Gyorko can’t play SS either…you won’t mind too much if you stood in that general area for a couple of games, but he’s no one’s idea of a defensive SS….which meant the only viable in-house option was Diaz…who has only about 70 ABs above AA.
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Agreed in part, as I noted about Diaz spending the year down at Memphis, which would have been the case anyway, if Peralta’s not hurt. That said, I do think, as the piece noted, that it shows the Cards don’t have a lot of confidence in Garcia, so, IMO, it does say something about his long-term future, as far as how much or how little the Cards value him.
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I don’t think it says anything we didn’t already know. Garcia has been passed over before and when he does play, we get to see why: his ceiling is utility man. He is a decent hitter, solid OBP with some power….but man, he’s a butcher in the field. He has an arm and some range, but hands of stone.
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Yeah, but let’s get to the important stuff. Carpenter qualified at second base and third base for fantasy leagues last year. Is Tejada going to mess with that? I happen to have Carpenter on my roster.
The Hell with the real world stuff.
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This ^^ is what winter and spring training moves are about!
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Awww, bring back Kozma!
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Unless he was waived, he’s still a Yankee.
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Also, if they brought back Kozma, he’d be the 4th best option at SS because that’s just how not good he is.
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He’s still a Yankee: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kozmape01.shtml
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Boooo! Bring back Kozma! Bring back Kozma!
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Maybe the Tigers will trade for him.
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Oh, it’s more fun if you have him.
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Uh huh.
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See?
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