The Astros pulled Wandy Rodriguez back off of waivers, according to Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The Rockies claimed Rodriguez yesterday, but balked when Houston insisted on obtaining prospects and salary relief for the 32-year-old.
Technically, Houston GM Ed Wade could place Rodriguez on waivers again, but if he does so, he'll no longer be able to pull the left-hander back. The Astros' best chance to trade Rodriguez could be this offseason, when they can engage all 29 of their rivals in the bidding.
Rodriguez earns $10MM next year and $13MM in 2013. If he's traded, the Astros $13MM option for 2014 becomes a player option. Rodriguez has solid numbers this season (3.41 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 153 innings), but the Rockies picked up ten hits and six runs (four earned) against him at Coors Field today.
The Astros wanted Wilin Rosario or Drew Pomeranz plus salary relief for Rodriguez, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter links). That deal wouldn't have worked for the Rockies, but they were willing to take on Rodriguez's entire salary, according to Renck.
Boooooo you suck Astros get a life Ed Wade
They seriously asked for Pomeranz or Rosario.. The Astros may be the dumbest team in baseball..
Not dumb but there’s no way that deal would ever happen. It seems they may have thought no one would claim Wandy, when we did, they just asked for something higher than the moon and we had to say no.
No, that’s actually Ed Wade finally doing his job, and asking for market value for his player under contract for the next two years.
They’re in no rush to dump Wandy with a month left of salary to pay this year, and this winter they’ll find teams who want to pay the price.
If only Wade did the same with Bourn and Pence.
BTW:I’m not disappointed in the return in those two deals, but I thought they should have gotten less prospects, but higher level ones, especially from the Phils who Wade loves to help out.
Wandy, and that contract, are not worth anything close to Pomeranz or Rosario.. nobody is going to give up a decent prospect and take that full contract, nor should they
Phillies ask for Roy Oswalt: Wade asks for little in return
Phillies ask for Hunter Pence: Wade asks for little in return
Rockies ask for Wandy Rodriguez: Wade asks for a ridiculously unfair deal
Very strange.
Yeah, Cosart, Singleton, Zeid, and Santana is “little in return” for an above average right fielder.
Cosart and Singleton were the Phillies top 2 prospects after they called up Brown. Santana was #9. Zeid was an ok throw in. That is too much to give up for a RF’er whose power continues to decline each year and is average on defense. Not to mention Pence will be making quite alot after this year of arbitration.
.462, .472, .461, .484 (Pence’s Slg % since ’08). 25, 25, 25, and 16 so far this year (Pence’s HRs since ’08). And his power continues to decline???? Do you know who Hunter Pence is?
He’s on pace to hit about 20 HR this season.
.539, .462, .472, .461, .484. You can’t leave off his first year just because it shows the decline. Also slugging is not the best way to measure power because it is also increased by singles. A better way to look at power would be the % of extra base hits compared to hits. 38%, 39%, 34%, 33%, 32%. His homeruns/hits % has also steadily decreased. His power numbers continue to decline when they should be increasing.
Ok, enough Id303. For Pence the Astros received Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart, Josh Zeid and Domingo Santana; that’s one helluva return in anybody’s accounting…
obviously if they claimed him they were willing to take on all of his salary
Best decision Ed Wade has made! Save him until you can get what you want! During the winter you can negotiate with all teams, not just 1 team with limited salary resources
Then there’d be no sense putting him out there right? Not seeing how pulling Wandy after you put him on waivers in the first place, only to ask for something you had to know you wouldn’t get, leaving him to twist in the wind for a start against the team who claimed him, makes you smart but maybe you can explain the logic. Additionally, how do you know what Colorado’s salary limits are?
Put him out there in hopes that NO ONE claims him so you can negotiate with anyone. The Astros have always placed a majority of their guys on waivers. And Colorado is a small market team with most of their payroll taken up by Helton, Cook and Tulo….
Cook comes off the books after this year, Helton renegotiated his deal to a more team-friendly size to get a couple extra years, Tulo makes no more per year than any average run-of-the-mill All-Star, and the Rockies are averaging 31-35 thousand a game (even when the Astros come to town.) We’re more of a mid-market team.
So, in your opinion, how did Wade’s strategy work out for him?
It’s a draw….nothing happened. What strategy are you talking about? Placing players on waivers to see what the interest is in them? Most teams do that…He did find out that the Rockies are interested, but only in a salary dumb situation. The Rocks may decide they are more desperate during the winter when they realize none of the better pitchers in free agency will want to pitch in that stadium, and that De La Rosa won’t be at a 100% for a while, so they are in need of a lefty in the rotation.
BTW, my wife’s uncle is the traveling hitting instructor/scout for the Rockies, so I have to root for them against most opponents. That’s not saying that I know anything more than the next guy about their situation though (although he had told me about how Wandy tips his pitches and Colorado has been managing to pick up on that).
Maybe I just got caught up in the hyperbole, but I didn’t see how pulling Wandy back (after exposing him to waivers) was the best decision Wade has made. It seemed it may have taken a toll on Wandy today. Just as it did on Ubaldo when the Rox wrongheadedly ran him out on the very day they traded him. After jettisoning Bourn and Pence, it’s hard to imagine that putting him on waivers could help Wandy’s state of mind. I know players are put on waivers all of the time but I wouldn’t have done it in this case unless I was serious about making a deal (with whichever team claimed Wandy – and the Rox knew the price and were willing to pay, btw.) If Wade couldn’t work out a deal by July 31st and figured to reap a better reward in the offseason (which he probably should) then, why bother in the first place with exposing Wandy who wasn’t some underachieving DH eating up $15 mil a year. Wouldn’t the better decision have been to sit tight? Maybe that’s just me and maybe I won’t expect any calls for anybody’s open GM vacancies.
That’s an interesting Wandy story from your wife’s uncle. He’s actually been quite good at Coors before today (small sample size!) and I bet there will be more pitchers willing to pitch here than there used to be. A lot of runs are scored on line-drive singles that turn into doubles in our outfield (part of which stretches into Kansas) Granted, this is not San Diego but a lot of guys have had success. I don’t think i want to pay the silly free agent prices, though for retreads who’ll end up being out there. Unless C.C. develops some sort of craving for Fat Tire…
Dan O’Dowd: Yeah we want Wandy Rodriguez
Ed Wade: Okay we’ll take D.. (Dan O’Dowd hangs up)
The Astros have 29 rivals?
If by rivals, he means teams that they can play competitive games with, then I’m pretty sure there are more than 29 teams in Double-A
looks like ed wade is making a last ditch effort to make ppl think he actually cares about prospects
wait…we GAVE $2M to philly along with pence, but we WANTED money for wandy? what in the hell is going on in ed’s head??? the balance of the contract should have been enough motivation to give him away. Watch it happen: 2 AAAA players (one being a middle infielder or middle reliever) for wandy AND a couple mil this winter.
“Salary relief” means taking on some of Wandy’s contract, not sending extra money back to the Astros.
Hell’s bells, we could’ve fixed you up right there! Nearly our entire Colorado Springs roster is full of just the guys you described. Take any three and chip in, say $2 mil per year towards Wandy’s deal and job’s a good’un!
The Astro’s wanted salary relief on top of a high level prospect? If they trade Wandy, they have all the salary relief they’re going to get, right? I think it means that the Astros wanted Pomeranz or Rosario without PROVIDING any salary relief for Wandy.
Major failure by Ed Wade.