As a policy, Astros general manager Tim Purpura doesn't confirm or deny trade rumors. For that reason and Major League Baseball's rules against tampering, Purpura would not say if he is back in talks with Baltimore about a potential trade for All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada. "We're talking to every club out there that can help us improve our ballclub," Purpura said. "To talk about specific situations, I can't." Asked for his priority heading into the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, Purpura didn't mince words. "One, I'd like this club to perform more consistently," he said. "That's our No. 1 objective, to get this club producing and winning together. From there, obviously you have to look at what opportunities come up, what makes sense, and how do you improve your ballclub. "Hopefully with ( Aubrey) Huff on board, we've improved ourselves offensively. The challenge offensively becomes where. If you add another piece, where do you add it? Pitching-wise, I think we're in fairly good shape (in the rotation). We have great starters. We just have to get consistently good performances out of them. I think that's the consistency I've talked about. You can't piece all the pieces together to put together a number of good ballgames in a row."