Houston Astros Baseball

Tejada's Declining Range ?

With the recent Tejada trade I have heard many Astro fans as well as baseball personalities talking about Tejada's defense emphasizing his "poor range". There were discussions about moving him to 3B because of his poor range. I have always been a huge supporter of Everett with regards to his phenomenal defense and was worried that Tejada would give up more runs than he would create. So I went to work, this is what I found.

2007 MLB Zone Rating (In Order)

Vizquel....897
Tulo........866
Reyes......863
Greene....855
Furcal......851
Tejada.....843
Cabrera....833
Rollins.....824
Eckstein...812
Renteria...800
Jeter........765

*Everett 2006....905

Tejada rates 6th out of ALL 24 major league SS in zone rating. (min. # of innings required)

2007 MLB RZR (revised zone rating)

Vizquel.....886
Reyes.......871
Gonzales...862
Tulo..........861
Greene......848
Pena.........848
Tejada......830
Furcal.......823
Wilson......816
Renteria...815
Young.......809
Rollins......808
Cabrera.....807
Hardy........807
Jeter.........777 (Haha)

*Everett 2006....891

-Tejada placed 7th out of 25 major league SS.

-The difference between ZR and RZR is that RZR separates plays that were made out of zone into a different category[ooz].

Tejada ZR

2001.......848
2002.......830
2003.......817
2004.......861
2005.......819
2006.......824
2007.......843

I don't beleive that Tejada is given the credit he deserves. His arm is still a cannon and he obviously still has the ability to get people out. Overall, I do beleive that be removing Everett from the batting order and inserting Tejada we have the BEST lineup in the NL. By shear odds alone, we should score far more runs. The difference between Tejada and Everett on defense is a significant one, but that would be the case when you replace Adam with anyone but Vizquel. The runs created by Tejada will outweigh the runs he gives up on defense. Not to mention the added lineup chemistry and practically making it impossible for the opposing pitcher to pitch around the heart of this lineup. Was the trade a good one? Who knows. I was not so high on Albers, I believe that you should show some improvement in over 250 innings, which he has not. We knew Luke was gone, which is sad. Costanzo wasn't to high on my list based on his sky high K rate, which would only get worse in the pros. Not to mention that he can be replaced by a now non-tendered Dallas McPherson. Sarfate has potential to be an excellent bullpen arm if he can consistently locate, which has yet to be seen over an extended period of time. Patton is the name that hurts. He was bound to be in our 2008 rotation, and has all the makings of being a solid #3 lefty. Health concerns may have made this decision easier for Wade, who still has Paulino and Gutierrez to fall back on. Only time will tell how good this trade was, but on paper, the AStros will be better in 2008 because of it.

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