Astros SS Miguel Tejada will appear in court Wednesday and is expected to plead guility to charges of lying to Congress in 2005 during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearings on baseball and steroids. However, presuming Miggy isn’t going to prison for a year, the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice promises that once the former AL MVP turns up at Spring Training, “I’m going to walk right over and give Miguel Tejada a big hug.” (get a room!) “If a man asks for frogiveness, I’m forgiving,” promises Justice. “I’m much quicker to forgive a great guy like Miguel Tejada.”

Maybe this wasn’t Ed Wade’s greatest trade. It made no sense from an economic sense, and if Troy Patton and Matt Albers turn out to be the real deal, it’s going to make a lot less sense.

Miguel Tejada has been pretty much everything the Astros hoped he would be. He has been productive on the field and a ray of sunshine in the clubhouse. Tejada is one of those guys that understands it’s an honor to put on a big league uniform.

Lance Berkman was skeptical about Tejada. After being his teammate for a month, I asked Berkman what he thought of him.

”You don’t have enough time,” Berkman said. ”He’s a great guy and a good player and a leader.”

Tejada used steroids. That makes him a cheat. He’ll be a cheat forever. Nothing can happen to change that.

He also lied to Congressional investigators, and that’s the lie that got him in trouble.

So how best to handle it? Begin with saying, ”I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. I hope you forgive me.”

These guys will find that fans are anxious to forgive them. I don’t know if Tejada’s last season in Houston will be productive or not, but he’s off to a good start by attempting to put the legal aspect of the case behind him and his teammates.