How much do you think that's contributing to his growing slowness? Man, Cooper is frustrating, even in tiny sporadic chunks.
I don't know if I could put an exact contribution percentage on it. But shortstop is a young man's position, so even the great ones like Cal Ripken Jr. and others found that father time made it necessary for them to move to another position when it was time. Shortstop is the most interesting and demanding position on the whole field. It is, next to the catcher position (IMHO) the field general's position, meaning if you have a good defensive player in that position, you will have all the other positions fall into place. For example, third baseman are not supposed to have range, they are supposed to have quickness. With a great shortstop, you have a third baseman now know where they need to play and react rather than think they need to expand over to the hole in order to make a play. Same with a second baseman who should be ready to take a throw from a shortstop who has great range. If you have a SS with no range, it makes everyone else play just a bit differently and just a little bit off kilter.
So back to your question: I think the Astros knew they had to make the best use out of Tejada this year and that meant resting him more. But Tejada is hitting so how can you take a bat like that out of the lineup? Well, you don't. But then again, you lose a lot at the key position of shortstop. Move him to third? Yeah, that might work. But he's not going to get rest that way either.
