Miguel Tejada

Miguel Tejada and the Orioles may be better off without each other. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

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The Orioles, who should have traded Tejada last winter, are "aggressively shopping'' him, in the words of one AL executive. The Angels, who nearly acquired Tejada for Erick Aybar and Ervin Santana two summers ago, are a logical landing spot if they fail to land Cabrera -- though you'd have to wonder whether they may be spooked by the Tejada steroid whispers that have reached the papers in light of the way they reacted to Matthews' HGH ties last spring.

Tejada's range is well-known to be down, his homers were also down last year (he hit 18 to go with 81 RBIs and a .296 average) and he has requested a trade from Baltimore in the past, all of which may limit his value. The Orioles will miss the offense but need a fresh start. Even Peter Angelos has to see that now.

Dan Haren

The A's are always willing to listen to offers, and that'll be no different this time, as Haren and rotation mate Joe Blanton will be coveted. The losers of the Santana Sweepstakes are logical landing spots for Haren (15-13, 3.07 ERA), plus perhaps the Diamondbacks, who have the prospects to deal for Haren but not the loot to pay Santana.

The Red Sox, Mets, Yankees and Dodgers have what it takes to get a deal done, and that will be quite a bit, especially since Haren has one of baseball's most reasonable contracts for three more years (assuming his 2010 option for $6.75 million is exercised, he'll cost $16.25 million over the next three years). They A's, of course, will request the usual Buchholz-Ellsbury combo from Boston (and probably not get it) and try for the Yankees' vaunted prospects (Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy), as well. New York's next-tier group of pitchers -- Alan Horne and Daniel McCutchen -- and outfielder Jose Tabata is a more palatable option for the Yankees, who'll be desperate if Andy Pettitte doesn't return (I still say he probably will be back).

Mike Pelfrey's stock took a bit of a hit after he struggled in the bigs last year, but a tandem of him, plus rising pitching prospect Kevin Mulvey and Milledge, whom A's GM Billy Beane is known to like, could form a reasonable package. Beane once traded Mark Mulder (for Haren and others) and Tim Hudson, and made it all work. So it can't be a surprise if he does it again.

Piazza to go?

Word is, Mike Piazza has been looking east again for job possibilities. Sources indicate that in the event he fails to land work in the majors, he's begun sending out feelers all over Japan's Pacific League (the one with the DH).

Piazza, 39, is only a year removed from a very productive year in San Diego, but off his injury-plagued '07 season, one AL exec isn't surprised that Piazza is considering becoming the first Hall-of-Fame caliber player to make that switch. "No way he gets guaranteed money in the big leagues,'' that exec predicted.

Piazza is already well-known in Japan as Hideo Nomo's first catcher, more so than for being the greatest hitting catcher of all-time.

Around the Majors

• Good to see the Angels making waves again after the sedentary regime of Bill Stoneman. Hunter didn't exactly fill a need for them, but he enhances any team, and any clubhouse.

• The White Sox's Williams scored big with the deal for Orlando Cabrera, another great chemistry guy. He's the one who kept Guerrero smiling the last couple years.

• One AL exec predicted the Angels will try to trade Matthews Jr. now "if they can.'' That one may be a tough sell.

• White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe is already on the block.

• As is Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla. And considering the free-agent pitching pool, Padilla may look awfully good to someone.

• Livan Hernandez is among the best of a bad lot of free-agent pitchers (the others are Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse). As one competing exec said of Livan, "He looks like a Met to me.'' GM Omar Minaya, a big fan of both the Hernandez brothers, has employed brother Orlando in two places but Livan in only one so far (Montreal).

• Milledge looks like a goner from the Mets. I am hearing his name so much in trade talks I am starting to think his nickname is Chip.

• The Mets are going to have to do better than Johnny Estrada for catcher. That trade made sense in that Guillermo Mota's time was up in Queens. But Estrada seems to have issues everywhere he goes, and the Mets will be his fourth team in four seasons. He may be the only player not to have gotten along with Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, well known as a prince of a guy.

The Mets have talked to the Nationals about Brian Schneider in addition to talking to the Orioles about Ramon Hernandez and the Rangers about Gerald Laird. The Mets often talk about wanting a defensive catcher. So it's about time they get one.

• Tom Glavine going back to the Braves was the most predictable thing that's happened so far. And good for him that he took "only'' $8 million to stay home with his family.

• Kenny Rogers, who never was Glavine and hardly pitched last year, now is acting like the $8 million Detroit's been offering isn't good enough. He says he needs more time. The guess here is that he wants to make it look good after agent Scott Boras negotiated the $8 million contract, and that he eventually takes the deal (minus the commission, of course).

• Rogers is a talented pitcher. But he should stop taking business advice from Gary Sheffield, who's no Warren Buffett or Boras. Maybe Rogers and Sheffield could start their own agency for cheap players and call it "Knuckleheads Incorporated."

• A-Rod did a nice job getting together with the Yankees. But let's not forget the key to the whole thing was first having the opt-out clause in his record $252 million Rangers contract. Who could possibly have thought there'd be a reason to opt out of that deal?