"When Miguel Tejada was first introduced to the Baltimore media a little more than six years ago at a Camden Yards news conference, he had received the franchise's richest contract and was trumpeted as a top-echelon shortstop and potential team savior only one year removed from being voted the American League's Most Valuable Player.

On Tuesday, Tejada again sat at a dais in the B&O Warehouse at an introductory news conference, but this time it was as a 35-year-old veteran in the latter stages of his career who had just signed a one-year, $6 million deal to be the club's stopgap third baseman.

Wearing his new Orioles cap and smiling broadly, Tejada said he feels he doesn't have to be the main guy in 2010 but instead is joining a group of young players that is talented enough to compete in the AL East for the first time since 1997.

"This time, unlike last time, it's not about me. It's about everybody," said Tejada, who batted .313 with 14 home runs and 86 RBIs for the Houston Astros in 2009. "Now they have pitching, outfielders. They have young talent. They don't have to do much to be a winner here."

In December 2003, Tejada signed a six-year, $72 million deal with the Orioles and spent four seasons with the club, batting .311 with 102 homers in 429 games. But he became disenchanted with the Orioles' losing ways, asked for a trade in December 2005 and had it granted two years later when new club president Andy MacPhail dealt him to the Astros for five players in an effort to kick-start the team's rebuilding effort.

"When I got traded, I got a phone call from Andy and he told me the reason. I said, 'Andy, I am never going to have bad feelings with the Orioles because I understand they are going younger,' " Tejada said.

Tejada said he never sold his house in Baltimore and hoped he would someday return, perhaps as early as 2010 when his original contract expired. Initially, MacPhail didn't think Tejada would be a financial fit for the Orioles, but as the market settled, Tejada remained available and climbed the team's wish list.

"Frankly, I was very pleasantly surprised with the options that were available to us in this market," said MacPhail, who this offseason has traded for veteran starter Kevin Millwood and signed closer Mike Gonzalez and first baseman Garrett Atkins. "That signing [Atkins] did give us the latitude to watch how both [corner infield] markets unfolded, and I think we came out of this thing as well as we could have hoped."

The Orioles preferred a right-handed hitter who would agree to a one-year deal because they have third base prospect Josh Bell in the minors. But MacPhail made a point Tuesday to say Tejada is the club's third baseman for 2010."