I think this would be a great addition if he could stay healthy. The Houston Astros have expressed interest in signing free agent pitcher Woody Williams. "I think with a team of young pitchers that we've assembled it's going to be important for us to have a veteran role model for these guys to look up to," Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said in an interview Monday with Houston television station KRIV. Williams went 9-4 with a 2.53 ERA in 17 starts for the Cardinals in 2002.
What is the likelihood that we'll sign him? If Gerry is talking about it publicly then I think we'll make a serious run at him. If we could bring him in that would be terrific!
No but he sure can fill that gaping hole at the 3 spot in the rotation left by Reynolds not being resigned.
i guess..i'm just less concerned with our pitching rotation then i am the fact we don't have a left side of the infield or a 5th hitter in the lineup...or a centerfielder capable of covering the ground at Minute Maid...
He's a homeboy, a good but injury prone pitcher, and if we are going to sign a starter, I'd rather see us sign him than Clemens.
I would take him, but I don't see him making it trough the season. But he can only help us and hurt the Cards.
I am a huge Cardinal fan so I can offer a different angle (still biased though) on Woody. There has been much discussion on Cards message boards about you guys signing him. When healthy, he is a dominate pitcher and he has also performed well in his last few playoff starts. He is well worth signing as long as he doesn’t cost too much (less than 9 million/yr). Yes, he did have an injury plagued season last year but if he stays healthy he will help the Astros while hurting the Cards. Another thing to note is his injuries last year are the type that can linger (back and side muscles) KT
I wouldn't pay him nine. If I were Hunsicker, which I'm not, I would at most start him at something like five and a half, and let him work up from there through incentives. I'm tired of Houston teams paying big bucks to hurt players.
You are thinking the same as us Cards fans then. He is seeking 10million + per/yr but IMHO he wont get it. If he were healthy he would have no problem getting his asking price.
Nobody will pay him anywhere close to 10 million. However, I think if the money is roughly the same he'd prefer to move back home to Houston.
I just read over at orangewhoopass.com that he says that the only team he would do incentives for is Houston, which is a great break us if he means it. Here's the link to the article, props to Noe in Austin over there for finding it. It's not worth paying an injury prone pitcher ten million when you don't know if he's going to be sitting on the shelf all year. I don't want to see a Glen Rice situation where he's eating salary and not doing anything. He's worth the risk though, if you mainly pay him for what he does. I agree with you Refman that any GM who gives him ten is crazy/gambling.
I'm not afraid of giving him a contract that could go as high as $10M provided he reaches several incentive plateaus. I don't think we should give him a base of more than $5M. BTW...thanks for the link.
think he'll go from demanding $10 to accepting $5? I'm with you...i would give more than $5 either...but i bet that ain't enough to get it done. So I don't know how excited I'd be about bringing him in for much more than that.
Depends on what the market is for his services. I doubt that any GM will offer him substantially more than $5M. If the money is close to being the same...my guess is he'll come to Houston.
