I see him more as a starting pitcher than a closer though.

At first glance, his peripherals scream “#3 starter”, ignoring his ERA… he gets a good amount of groundballs, strikes out an above average amount, and walks an average amount. However, the only seasons when this was really reflected in his ERA were 2005 and 2006.

What may have hurt him the most is that he’s consistently given up a lot of long balls. Conventional sabermetric wisdom says that pitchers can’t really control their HR/FB rate, but it’s troubling that he’s managed a 15.5% career rate over as large a sample size as he’s pitched.

Overall, that means even when healthy, he’s been a #4 starter at best for the past few years. I’d rather see him get starts than Moehler, but I wouldn’t want to see a higher upside guy like Paulino kicked out of the rotation for him.

as long as the price is right. For under $5M, it’s a high reward scenario. He had a year where he went 13-8 with an ERA under 4. Looking at his overall career, he’s a #4 starter (on a good team) who is also injury prone. An incentive-laden one or two year deal that still leaves room in the payroll for Tejada is a good move IMO. Would definitely like to see him in the rotation, then if he struggles, move him to the ’pen.

Oswalt, Wandy, Myers, Norris, Paulino/Wright/Bazardo/Lopez, Moehler. Not a bad rotation. Especially with a strong bullpen of Byrdak, Arias, Gervacio, Fulchino, Paulino/Wright/Bazardo/Lopez, and Hawkins/Valverde.