According to those at OrangeWhoopass Hampton may be moving to Florida soon. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/rockies/article/0,1299,DRMN_19_1544660,00.html
Damn, if the Marlins are willing to part with Wilson, I'd like to see the Astros pursue him if this deal falls through. He could be a nice fit in CF.
What surprised me a little more was that the Rockies were willing to throw in Pierre. I thought with the vast interest in him that they could command a little better deal for him.
I would imagine that the Pierre interest died down significantly after this last season when Pierre stunk it up.
Actually I heard as late as last week that there were still about 5-8 teams interested in him. I will try to find the article I read about him but I cannot remember where I saw it.
I have absolutely no interest in Preston Wilson. He's a rally killer, with his 150+ k's a year. The 150 k's would be tolerable, if he hit 40+ HRs a year.
Well he is originally from Florida so it could be possible. Florida is intent on selling him that they could be contenders if the Braves lose Glavine and possibly Maddux. The fish also have several good young pitchers. Realistically I don't think they will be but they could make a case for it with a bunch of "what ifs".
This ESPN article shows that Hampy is mulling it over...but the speculation is that he'll turn it down. They say that he wants to go to Houston, Chicago or NY. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1114/1460747.html
Hampy is quoted as saying 'no deal'. Bet on him being an Astro. Doggie a Rockie. Rockies picking up big coin and Hampy 'restructuring'. It will happen.
What I don't get is why would Florida pursue Hampton? Why would they spen 1/4th of their payroll on a player thay may be good again. Anyone trading for Hampton is assuming a huge risk. That is way too much money to gamble on a player that MIGHT pitch better once he is out of Colorado. If Hampton doen't bounce back he will cause some serious harm to a teams payroll.
In Houston's case he will likely take a paycut and Houston has a much larger payroll. But the Florida deal did not inlude Colorado eating some of the salary. Yes they are dumping overpriced garbage but they have shorter contracts.
As to Florida I agree. But should the Astros make an attempt to bring him home then I think its important to make the distinction.
Judging from his agent's comments this morning on the radio, I doubt very seriously that Hampton is truly open to reworking his contract...in which case I say there is no way the Astros should be in the Hampton hunt.
The article states that the Rockies would have been paying part of Hamptons salary. 30 million to be exact. Plus taking on 11.7 million in salaries.
I was going by the espn article. But your source makes more sense. Either way this deal is highly unlikely to go through. Espn Article "But the Marlins are the only team that hasn't asked him to restructure his contract, which still has more than $100 million in guarantees and deferrals remaining. So that could be the one factor that makes him willing to say yes to Florida."
Every club that is in the hunt has asked Colorado to eat some of the salary and only Florida hasn't asked him to restructure his deal. I think he'd be more likely to do it for Houston than anybody else. These articles make it clear that Houston is his first choice.
So his contract is 6-yrs & approx $100M...if Colorado eats $30M & Hampy will make the final year a club option, I wouldn't mind seeing him come back. I could care less about getting Pierre. Not sure if the Rockies would want more than Hidalgo, however.
