if we trade valverde why don’t we just keep making deals? wandy and wiggy are coming off big years- get what we can for them now…this would go against drayton’s desire to keep costs down, but a trade for tejada where where the astros pay a portion of his deal would re-invigorate our farm system like wade wants.

mets for valverde? indians for wiggy? although the mets seem intent on signing either k rod or brian fuentes…

the closer market now appears to have an excess of supply over demand. NY articles indicate that the Mets are comfortable with the idea that they can wait and pay a reasonable salary to land a FA closer without parting with any players.

The disappointing aspect of Justice’s discussion is his claim that the Astros believe they can contend with a roation of Oswalt, Wandy, Wolf, Moehler, and Backe/young pitcher, without Wiggy or Valverde. As Quail argued in an earlier article, the in-between strategy which is neither rebuilding nor realistically contending, is the least compelling strategy.

One: I don’t know that I trust Wade to get a the proper return or, as clack points out, the market is even favorable for us to get a decent return.

Two: We’re too close to having the appropriate talent to make a run at the playoffs before we spend years in mediocrity paying for the past four or five years of farm system neglect.

Suck it up Drayton, sign a good pitcher and lets do the damn thing already. Stop talking about being a champion and actually do something to make one.

unless they are factoring in a really high salary for Wolf. Just as a quick and dirty (I don’t have much time before work), I figured that the “current” budget now stands at, say, $95 milliion as a result of players signed at the end of 08 and Hawkins so far. Suppose the combination of Lee’s salary escalation and arb for Wandy and Wiggy adds $10 million incrementally. Suppose Valverde gets $3 million more. That is $108 million. Are they figuring Wolf at $12 million/year? Of course, I could have missed something…and I still don’t know if Woody Williams’ salary is including in the starting point budget or not. If it is, that frees up another $6 million.

Just as a way to inject some longer-term thinking, I started asking myself “What would put us in the best position to win in 2010/2011”?

If we trade Valverde now, presumably for guys who are young and major league ready or will be ML-ready in 2 years, we won’t get full value because there are a lot of closers on the market, and for many teams it will be cheaper to just pick up a FA.

If we just keep him for the last year of club control, then this time next year, we’ll either have to offer him a multi-year contract at market value to stay with us, or let him walk and try to collect some draft picks. Draft picks in 2010 won’t help us in 2010, and probably not in 2011. A multi-year contract at market value ties up a lot of money.

So here’s the best 2010/11 option I see with Valverde:
Sign him now to a 2-3 year contract (I’d prefer 2), and trade him in 2009 when he has more value (either in-season or end-of-season). You have to sign him to a 2+ year contract if you think you can trade him next offseason at a higher value.

I trade wiggy to Cleve for Shoppoch ( New Catcher ) Then sign Joel Guzman and he can plat 3rd or move tejada to 3rd and move guzman to ss.

with drayton saying that oswalt and berkman are untouchable? should they be?

of course, this is contingent upon Drayton being unwilling to spend $150 million next year. If he were willing to increase payroll significantly, then it’s a different story, and I’d say only Wiggy should be traded.

Trade them both for prospects who will be ML ready in about two years. Close by committee, with (wait for it…) Hawkins doing most of the work (I know, I know, he can’t close… give him another chance). But I think Coop has the wherewithal to figure out who should close out a game.

Move Tejada to third, pick up a back-up SS in free agency (Everett comes to mind), and give Maysonet or Manzella a shot. Prepare for real contention in 2010.

We need to deal both Berkman and Roy O, Sell them on playing for a contender, Hell after the Braves get Peavy sell them Roy for there top Prospects Roy would go for that. Then send Berkman to the Rangers for some of that super depth of Pitching and catching prospects that they have and then give it a year. We would be just like Tampa Bay!!!

I read this article last night/this morning and it pissed me off so much because he’s so full of shit about what he’s saying. He leads the article with a headline that says Valverde and Wiggy will definitely get traded. First of all, he’s talking out of his ass and speculating. But he’s taken seriously because he’s a writer for the Chronicle. But he has no hard evidence to back this up. He throws together some payroll numbers to back his argument (which some of you say aren’t even accurate.)

As far as trading the two. I don’t believe Valverde will be traded. With the (probable) loss of Brocail, it would be too much for the Astros bullpen to handle. Plus the closer market is over-saturated. We wouldn’t get much of a return for Valverde at this point. Reason number 3: Wade traded 3 players to get Valverde and he produced last year. I don’t believe Wade is going to give up one of his successful trades from last year.

As for Wigginton, it’s a different story. He had a career year with the bat last year so he’s going to make a couple mil more in arbitration. But will last year’s performance be a turning point for Wiggy or is he going to go back to his previous level of production. That’s a question that’s harder to answer. There are also no Type A third basemen on the market right now and only a handful of Type Bs, so Wiggy could be attractive. Wade may believe that he can have Blum, Erstad and perhaps Newhan fill time there so he doesn’t have to spend any extra money. They all had some shiny moments last year and I think it may have been enough to infatuate him. Not that I think that it’s a good plan.. but I could see this happening.

Keep him till the trading deadline. If the team is in it, rock on and take the two draft choices. If things don’t look so good, he’ll bring a ransom.