There is a "growing belief" that the Astros will place Wandy Rodriguez on trade waivers this week, and also that at least one team will place a claim on the lefty according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. It's believed that at least one NL team is interested enough to risk a claim, and there may be others interested as well.
Rodriguez, 32, has more than $23MM left on his contract, and that doesn't include his $13MM club option for 2014 that becomes a player option if traded. If a team were to claim him, the Astros could pull him back and attempt to work out a trade with the claiming team, or they could award Wandy and his entire contract to that club. Knobler says the Astros would not do the latter and would instead seek some kind of return for the southpaw.
Through 21 starts, Rodriguez has a 3.52 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 133 innings. He has allowed five or more runs in four of his last nine starts however, which doesn't jive with his track record of strong second halves. The Yankees, Indians, and Blue Jays were among the teams with interest in Wandy before the trade deadline.
