Orioles Shortstop Miguel Tejada was traded to the Houston Astros for Luke Scott and a grab-bag of prospects early Wednesday.
In July of 2006 the Dominican All-Star was all but signed, sealed and delivered to the Angels in exchange for Ervin Santana and Erick Aybar. The trade was nixed by meddling Orioles owner Peter Angelos.
Despite the animosity that developed between the two clubs, with Angels owner Arte Moreno breaking the Bill Stoneman vow of silence behind the scenes and openly complaining about the broken deal to the media, some reports had the Angels revisiting the trade this offseason with a lesser package and as more of a "Plan B".
With Tejada an assumed top suspect in the Mitchell report (although it is likely to focus on HgH and Tejada was tied to the steroid Stanozol when outed by former teammate turned rat Rafael Palmeiro), his chances of being an Angel probably hinged on whether or not his name appeared in the soon-to-be-released "Book of Souls", as Moreno is adamant about running a clean, steroid-free ship in Los Angeles of Anaheim.
With no Tejada possibilities for the Angels, it appears that Chone Figgins is the de facto Angels Third Base Man, with perennial prospect Dallas McPherson waiting in the wings to provide the Halo lineup the elusive pop for which it has long been searching.