Gordon Edes: "The only thing more obvious than his talent is Tejada's burning desire to win. Even his most ardent supporters can't say the same about Ramírez."

I am an ardent Manny supporter. I can and will say that Manny does have a desire to win. I seem to recall him being the World Series MVP, in fact. What more could we ask? About TeJada's "burning desire to win"? Here are some things I've said about Miguel on this blog.

Sep '04: "...Just like Byrnes and Tejada in the playoffs last year--true Knoblauchian behavior. Assuming that all play will just stop so they can complain. And if something doesn't go their way, they just give up."

Sep '05: "...Tejada absolutely dogging it down the first base line multiple times."

"But as if to cap off his crappy series [vs. the yanks], Tejada grounded out on the first pitch, killing the momentum, and barely even running all the way down the line. For a guy who's supposed to be the star of the team, and who seems to care so much and get pissed when things go run, he sure does FAIL TO COME THROUGH quite often."

"Then I tried to guess which Oriole made an error to allow the yanks to have a four-run inning, because there was no dobt in my mind that there was one. I went with Tejada. I was correct."

You'll notice a theme. You can't spell Tejada without TJ. In fact, he spells it out: Te Ja. He's like the district attorney of TJs: "Te Ja, DA."

Edes also says with Tejada we'd be the best team in baseball. I'd agree if we got him AND got to keep Manny.

Look, I realize this guy puts up huge numbers. And he does have a fun-lovin' attitude at times. (Except when he's whining all over the field, usually after failing in some key spot.) Just like with Wells, to me, if get Tejada, he's gotta come out and start hitting home runs over the monster, as I've seen him do so many times for the other team. If he starts with the errors and mental mistakes and whining, well, let's just hope he doesn't. Either way, I would root for him and be psyched when he does good, and also, he wouldn't be named Renteria!

But that's getting way ahead of ourselves. Manny is still on our team and I hope he stays. If he has to pull a Tootsie*, than so be it.

Also, don't you think George will see this and say, "Baltimore, we'll take on Tejada's salary AND pay you a special fee of 50 million bonus dollars. We've got a spot in center field for him."? And he'd take it, just like A-Rod took third base.

Also, Mike Myers is a yankee. TJ, Mike. TJ. I'll have to cut him out of the autographed picture I have of him and Wakefield.


*About Tootsie: Remember when Dustin Hoffman's character was told "Michael, no one will hire you"? What did he do, quit? No, he put on a different costume and tore shit up. That's what Manny will have to do: "Manny, no one will pay your contract." So, he's stuck here. So he should put on his game face--maybe not a red-haired curly woman's wig and huge glasses and make-up, although with Manny, hey, you never know--and go out there and show that he's not a quitter and go grab another ring. All the while showing people a new side of Manny, much like Tootsie made people realize that women should be respected in the acting world. Come on, you love the Tootsie comparison.