A few different stories out that Wandy Rodriguez is set to hit waivers soon. It's a mix of reactions, from the indifferent to the really negative.
↵The piece to this puzzle that we just can't know is whether or not Jim Crane has ordered the payroll down. We might know more about that after he officially takes over on or about Aug. 22, but until then, we just have these reports from other team executives to go off.
↵That's a huge factor in getting Wandy traded or passed through waivers. We all assumed that there would be some interest for him and that Houston could get a return on him. But, the logic in that FanGraphs piece is pretty sound. Houston might just dump his contract on whatever team chooses him off waivers and count themselves lucky.
↵If that happens, it'll be a dark day for Ed Wade and the franchise. When Wandy signed his extension this winter, I thought it would make him more attractive on the trade market, because it gave the team trading for him some long-term stability.
↵However, what we didn't count on was how down on his pure stuff other teams would be. Wandy has been putting up solid numbers for three seasons now. His strikeout rate is down a tad from last season and he missed some time with an injury, which means he's not going to hit 3.0 WAR this season, most likely. But, you can't look at his numbers and expect he's going to be a terrible pitcher soon. Well, you can, if you're looking at his home/road splits.
↵That's why Wandy means more to Houston than to another team and why he would most likely not have earned Ted Lilly money on the free agent market. Houston chose him to sign him to that deal anyway, which is fine, but the direction of the team seems to have drastically changed since Crane took over. You have to wonder if Myers and Wandy would have gotten extensions if they had been up for them this winter instead of last.
↵Either way, it's a sad state of affairs for an Astro who still has value. If Wandy leaves because the Astros want another team to eat his contract and they get nothing in return...September may turn into a time all about football with no baseball in sight.
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