Wade says he will know more about his payroll flexibility in the next few days or after the winter meetings in two weeks. Taggert makes clear that the team has worked on trades for Wiggy and/or Valverde. My interepretation is that Wade hopes to complete trades in the near future which allow him to clear payroll for making an offer to Wolf.

Of course, a team with Wolf and without Valverde and/or Wiggy is likely to be weak also. I see the $120 million figure again and this time Wade says that figure is based on bringing everybody back who was on the roster at the end of last season, plus a free agent utility infielder and catcher. Again, I don’t understand the numbers. How or why would you include both Loretta’s salary plus a salary for another free agent utility infielder? I didn’t think the Astros expected to pay a lot for a catcher (like David Ross). But if the Astros are so intent on adding a catcher that they allow it to drive their major roster/payroll decision, they must really be down on Towles.