Why I miss Miquel and Ramon

Does anyone else ever miss Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez? I got to thinking about the improbable dream it would be to get those guys back and how to make it happen.  I think the SS and C positon are the weakest links on our team.  Why dream about the future when I can reminise about the past.  

Now we all know we can't afford Miguel.  The Orioles seem to want to shop him every year after there post all-star tank job and I figure why not.  I think a package of Harden, Crosby and (insert 5th starter here) would get the job done.

The Orioles really need the pitching.  They are never going to compete in the East without it.  Athough there team ERA is a middle of the pack 4.5, they get to play the Sox and Yanks 28 more times this year and 36 times every year.  They are never going to consistantly outhit them and will for sure not outspend them.  They really need to take a chance and get a potential Cy Young/Ace in Harden who could win anygame, anytime and an upgrade on there 3rd/4th starter both of whom have ERA's over 4.5.  They would get a SS back, could eat a little of Miguel's contract and still save a little scratch to boot.

Now we might miss Harden IF he stays healthy and IF he turns into the dominate perrinial Cy Young canidate we all know he can be.  But the reality is we can probably plug in another guy with a 3.5 ERA to take his place.  It's also likely his highest value will end up being an 8th inning set-up guy who occasionally closes games for us.  He could become a Rollie Fingers and come in to pitch the 7th inning on when there is 2 men on, no outs and we need 3 strikeouts fast.  But there is no guy like that now and no manager even has seriously tryed it in a long time.

Now Miguel hit .330 last year, hits lots of jacks and averaged 115 RBI's over the last seven seasons.  He never misses a game.  He's was a great clubhouse guy for us and always had a smile on his face.  Bobby, since being called up in late 2003 has hit .240, hit 45 HR's and driven in 156 Runs.....in his whole career.  Where do we get the extra money to absorb his contract? Start with the 7 mill we will save by not (please god) having Kendell on the team next year.

Now Ramon would be easyer (cost wise).  More pitching and a catching prospect ought to do it.  We probably have 2 or 3 guys (out of 5 or 6 prospects) in the minors/bullpen who could start for other teams in the majors.  That's the reality for the team that has the best ERA (around 3.2)in the American League.  It means we are holding people back who would have had a chance with Texas, Tampa, K.C, and many other teams long ago.  The River-cats have the 3rd best ERA in the P.C.L. out of sixteen teams.  It would be up to Baltomore to figure out which 2 or 3 to gamble on.  Or up to us to give up someone more valuable and take that gamble ourselves.  

Last year Ramon hit 29 doubles, 23 HR, and drove in 90+. That's 23 more doubles, 23 more HR's and about 50 more RBI's than Kendall can expect. Do we really want to give Kendell another 400 AB's to find out if his projections are wrong?  Last year Ramon had an impressive 42 caught basesteelers out of 97 trys.  This year Kendell has caught 9 out of 34 and has currently missed 22 in a row.  

How many one run games could we have won with another HR or double here or there. How many games will we lose with 25-50 of the other teams guys on second instead of first over the season as team after team will take advantage of him.  Especially in the playoffs where that one run will be so very crucial and they will be running wild.  We have lost 5 one-run games and 4 two-run games already this season out of 17 losses,  and the season is only 1/5th over.  Jack Cust's daily HR and the offense pretending its great not-whithstanding, we could use the upgrade in these two spots.  Why watch us lose 20-30 games 3-2 or 4-2 if we can help it.  

I know this is just a dream as this is not the A's way.  It's not like we ever won much (Tejada should have been awarded home no matter what he did/din't do or how he did/didn't do it. Screw those umps, at the very least he should have been on third) with them anyways.  The costs probalby wouldn't work out and far beit for the A's to overspend.  It would take one big trade to get them both and with the way the bullpen has pitched latley mabey we would give up too much.  I never appriciated Hernandez when we had him, I always liked Miggy,  but in hind-site we were sure spoiled with those guys.  I don't think the A's miss any other players we let go but sometimes I sure miss those guys.