Insider: Orioles need to get moving -- and move Tejada

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The smartest thing the Baltimore Orioles have done in years was decline to trade shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Chicago Cubs for Mark Prior last winter -- Prior is more fragile than a box of china behind the wheels of a U-Haul in reverse.

That said, the next-smartest thing they could do is step up and trade Tejada in a major, stop-the-presses blockbuster deal between now and Monday's non-waivers trade deadline -- a deal in which they get pitching back (Jim Palmer can tell them what that is).

Since Miguel Tejada doesn't pitch, he isn't of much use to the Orioles right now. (AP)

Granted, using any variation of the word "smart" in the same sentence with a Peter Angelos-owned team is as silly as leaving your convertible top down in a thunderstorm.

Still, as they say, even a blind squirrel stumbles upon an acorn every now and then ...

The Houston Astros, having watched Roger Clemens endure another shutout the other night, are the-season-is-slipping-away-from-us desperate to add offense. They are aggressive on several fronts, sources tell CBS SportsLine.com, including with Milwaukee's Carlos Lee, Washington's Alfonso Soriano and yes, especially, Tejada.

The Los Angeles Angels are also trying to pry Tejada away from the Orioles -- in their scenario, though, he would move over to third base, keeping Orlando Cabrera at short. Angels general manager Bill Stoneman is so focused on making a deal that when I reached him in his office late Wednesday, I thought the sheer surprise of someone other than another GM ringing in on the telephone was going to knock him clear off his office chair.

How are the talks going, Bill?

"We're still having them," the notoriously tight-lipped Stoneman said uneasily.

So sign up the Angels, among others, for another case of No-Doz and Red Bull.

Because, in this stale and stagnant market, it's going to take staying power to get things done.

What Stoneman, Houston GM Tim Purpura and anybody else inquiring about Tejada have in common, according to league sources, is this: It's business as usual with the Orioles this trade deadline, who remain caught between inert and paralyzed.

And for what?

This is their third season with Tejada, and each has been worse than the preceding one.