If I Ran the Orioles

IMHO, the O's should trade Tejada for the best 2 almost ready prospects they can. a trade with LA for Kemp and Meloan would be IDEAL. then acquire a slugging first baseman (Adam Dunn, anyone), shortstop and legit back-up catcher. i'd let Huff/Millar effectively platoon at DH with the other providing depth on the bench. re-sign Patterson for center, and let Payton be the 4th OF, pinch-hitting and playing for Corey against lefties where he belongs.

contemplate this line-up:

2b Roberts
lf Kemp
rf Markakis
1b Dunn
dh Huff/Millar
3b Moore/Mora
c Hernandez
ss Juan Uribe
cf Patterson

bench: Millar, Mora, Payton, Luis Hernandez, Toby Hall

then for pitching, there's CRAP available for starters, so i'd concentrate on closer (Nathan? F. Cordero?) and back-end rotation help (Josh Fogg? Jon Leiber?)

SP Bedard
SP Guthrie
SP Loewen
SP Fogg
SP D. Cabrera
LRP Burress
LRP Walker
RHP Cherry
RRP Meloan
RRP Bradford
CL Nathan

they'd be getting younger (Kemp, Moore, Meloan) and more competitive (Dunn, Nathan) and the only real money would be on Dunn and Nathan, and you'd be off-setting part of that by dealing Tejada's $13M. Uribe, Fogg, Hall all would come at MLB average salaries.