[Fox 26] Houston Astros Parts Ways with Ty Wigginton

By the way, to clarify, I'm not one of those chron.com reader loons whining about Drayton. He is increasing the payroll, and he's been very good about stretching the budget, when reasonable. I understand all too well just how bad the economy is.

My gripe is that Wigginton was affordable, even with the current budget. Worst case scenario, he'd approach $9 million on his contract, although I doubt he'd get that high. But for the sake of argument, I'll use that number. The Astros tied up $6.25 million in two league-average, older relievers (Hawkins and Brocail) for production they easily could've found off the scrap heap. They tied up likely a couple more million on Backe, arguably the worst starting pitcher in the majors and someone who's more than replaceable by almost anyone in the organization.

Ed Wade chose to allow an .800 OPS player in his prime, at a premium position where we have no viable replacement that might even approach .700, walk for no compensation, all while keeping two average, old relievers and one of the worst starters in all of baseball. Set-up men are the cherries on top of a sundae. It's pointless to invest significant resources in that if you're going to eliminate the actual foundation.

It doesn't make sense now. It doesn't make sense for the future. It shows a complete lack of direction. Maybe Wade has some kind of deal lined up to re-sign Wigginton to a multi-year deal at a cheaper price, but if he doesn't (and it doesn't sound like he does), there's just no possible explanation here that makes any sense.

 

They need to blow the team up then because they are spending an assload of money for a non contender. I mean really, freaking gimpy ass Hampton is our #2 starter? They just let 2 of the biggest reasons we even sniffed the wild card walk out the door for nothing in return.

I'm not annoyed that we can't spend like the Yankees, I'm annoyed that Drayton thinks we're all moronic enough to buy his BS when he talks about how excited he is and that he wants to be a champion. The bottom line is the only bottom line to him.

 

It will be interesting to see what their plan is (or if they have one). They have a lot of holes, not a lot of financial flexibility, and not a lot of trade bait. Hopefully they have some kind of multi-year plan here instead of just going on the fly year-to-year, but we'll see!

 

OK...great. Let's assume that Drayton comes out and says "We cannot afford to field a World Series team in this economy." He then blows up the team and fields a squad that would make the Royal fans feel bad for us.

Would that really make you happy?

 

I've never understood this argument. How is spending money but NOT winning good for the bottom line? You have higher expenses and lower revenues that way. I think there's probably a pretty strong correlation between success on the field and profitability for MLB teams (not on a single year basis, but over a longer period). If you believe Drayton cares about making money, then you probably should guess he's going to try his best to win to generate more money.

 

I'm proud to say that I haven't spent one single penny on the DisAstros post WS appearance, suck it Drayton.

 

I would rather lose and restock the farm than barely eek out a winning season without going to the playoffs while spending tons of money.

 

Maybe. If they did that, I would imagine that most people would not spend any money to go see the team. Revenues plummet, and the team then has less money to spend to get competitive again. See Kansas City Royals.

At the end of the day, this is entertainment. If there is nothing entertaining to see, people won't go see it.

 

Calm down people, Drayton is just clearing salary to trade for Peavy

 

Pigginton sucks but don't let him walk when you have nothing to replace him with

 

Obviously the case. I don't know what the hell Uncle Cheapie is doing.

 

If you think a .283 average with significant home run power sucks, I can't wait to see what you say with Geoff Blum as the everyday guy.

Wigginton does not suck. That is why he is in line for a payday that a lot of clubs cannot afford. There were teams interested in trading for him, but they wanted to get rid of some payroll first so they could afford him.

 

So what numbers do you think are acceptable for a 3B? Because Wigginton's superior to around 75 percent of them. .285 average, .876 OPS, 23 homers and 22 doubles in only 386 at-bats -- those are borderline All-Star numbers, dude.

 

By bringing back Backe and Hawkins and Brocail, after signing Mike Hampton, before going after Peavy. Drayton must be doing an NBA version sign & trade.

 

Hawkins and Brocail (for the most part) pitched well last year. Hamption is low risk and all they did was tender Backe. He hasn't made the team yet.

 

The point of his post was that he got to type "Pigginton". I'm sure everyone under 13 thought that was funny (no offense intended to those under 13 who did not think it was funny).

 

This sucks, but he isn't the only player that got non-tendered because franchises felt they couldn't afford them.

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