He seems to be a pitch to contact type pitcher. Obviously, that type of pitcher will be dependent on the quality of the team defense behind him. So, there is some risk if the Astros’ defense were to decline somewhat next season. At BBTF, one commenter compared Blackburn to Carlos Silva, in the sense that he looks better than he is, because the Twins have good defense.

Although I do think the odds are likely that 08 was a career year for Wigginton, I think we may be selling his offense short in these trade discussions. Even with some regression, he is still a good offensive player at 3d base. Really, there aren’t a lot of choices available in free agency (or feasible trade) which offer his kind of offense at 3d base. Of course, the Twins may feel burned by Mike Lamb, and worry that they might be disappointed by another Astros’ 3d baseman.

last season was probably Wiggy’s career year. We shouldn’t expect that type of production out of him again. The key is to find someone who thinks Wigginton can continue to produce (Ned Colletti and the Dodgers seem like the best candidates, to me, given Ned’s willingness to make terrible decisions) and who will give us something good in return for him.

Drayton has, for all intents and purposes, made this team a non-contender for next year. By all reports, there’s a hard $100 million cap on salary for the Astros, so I wouldn’t expect Wade to sign Sheets or any other premium starter.

So, presumably, Wade’s goal should probably be to make the organization’s farm system as strong as possible. Trading Wigginton might provide a good payoff. Yeah, the Astros don’t have anyone to take Wiggy’s place, but Wigginton probably isn’t a long-term solution to the franchise’s third base problem, anyways. While trading Wigginton means you lose a good offensive player, the Astros need prospects more than they need another year of a slightly above-average third baseman.

As best we can tell, he has set a payroll limit on Wade which makes the GM think that the only places he can “cut” are Wiggy and Valverde, given that they are the only likely big salaries not yet under contract. I agree with you that the offense will be worse without Wiggy…unless Wade does something creative to make up for it.