A-Rod Fallout

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Alex Rodriguez may have to withdraw from the WBC due to a hip injury.

You never like to see such a high-profile player go down to injury, but my thoughts immediately turned in a different direction than most people’s.

If Alex Rodriguez misses the WBC, does this make Miguel Tejada the Dominican Republic’s starting third baseman?

Tejada withdrew from the Classic after hearing a rumor that he was going to be used primarily as a first baseman.  Then, with manager Felipe Alou’s eventual assurance that he would play shortstop, third base, and DH, he changed his mind and joined the team.

With Rodriguez in the lineup at third, and Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez at shortstop, it wasn’t immediately clear how much playing time Tejada would get in the infield.  Now, that’s all changed.

Barring whomever would replace A-Rod on the roster, the only other third baseman currently with the team is Willy Aybar.  Given that option, it seems reasonable to assume that Tejada would become the starting third baseman.

And that, as far as I’m concerned, is a problem for the Houston Astros.

I’m generally pro-WBC.  I don’t mind players taking the added injury risk to play for their countries.  LaTroy Hawkins, Roy Oswalt, and Carlos Lee are all involved in the classic, and bully for them.  These are three guys who performed for the Astros last year.  They did exactly the job they were asked to do, and they did it well.

But Tejada’s short tenure with the Astros has been tumultuous, at best.  First, he was caught lying about his age.  Then, he suffered a mid-season slump that hurt the team in a bad way.  Next, he was indicted for lying to federal investigators.  Then came the WBC.

Simply put, I feel pretty strongly that Miguel should be in camp.  He should be getting reps as a shortstop.  He should be preparing himself to earn the money he’s getting paid – an albatross contract, signed under false pretenses regarding his age.  That contract, and the five players we gave up to get Tejada from the Orioles, could be singled out as the single-largest reason the Astros were unable to make a move of any merit this offseason.

The news that he may get significant playing time at another position doesn’t sit well with me.

Of course, there is another option, given the Astros’ holes at third base.  If Tejada shows himself to be a competent third baseman, perhaps Coop may consider moving him there permanently, and allowing either Tommy Manzella or Drew Sutton to play shortstop, assuming Chris Johnson is sent to AAA at the end of Spring Training.

Knowing Cooper, that seems unlikely, but it is a possibility.  Tejada’s still a better-fielding shortstop than he gets credit for (he had a 4.01 RFg in 2008, six points above adjusted league average), but he is aging (three years more quickly than we’d realized.)