Randy Wolf for Chad Reineke?

by Joe in Birmingham on Jul 22, 2008 3:28 PM CDT

Astros traded minor leaguer Chad Reineke for Randy Wolf. Astros pursued Randy Wolf in the off-season; and he is having an off-season with San Diego (but who isn't? ). Does Chad Reineke have a major league future?

I don't get it. Why would San Diege do this deal? Is it a salary dump? Seems like a slam dunk for the Astros at first blush. But, then again, I don't get it.

Help me out here.

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Chad Reineke could be a so so RP in ML

he pitched a 8 inning shoutout and 8 Ks game yesterday. lol

and yes, Padres want to dump salary… they are moneyball club. if cant win to playoff, save money for next shoot. They will be happy to save 2+M jsut after they spend 6-7M in IFA signing recently.

I just wish Wolf will bring a Type B draft to us next year.

by HubertL on Jul 22, 2008 4:13 PM CDT 0 recs

Appears to be mostly a salary dump...

Wolf is likely to earn some incentives in his contract, and I have seen it reported that the Padres will save $2.5 million with the trade. I don’t have a problem with the trade. Reineke isn’t a prospect, and doesn’t appear to have a future with the Astros’ ML club. He has pitched well in Round Rock this year, and the Padres might be gambling that he will be an OK role pitcher in Petco Park, which will afford him some margin for error. The Padres are particularly fond of converting sub-par starting pitchers to relievers. Wolf will fill a spot in the rotation, which doesn’t hurt.

by clack on Jul 22, 2008 4:40 PM CDT 0 recs

Ken Rosenthal comments on the trade:

The immediate reaction of several executives to the Astros’ pursuit of Padres left-hander Randy Wolf, which was first reported by ESPN.com: Why? Wolf is 1-6 with a 6.63 ERA in 10 starts away from Petco Park. He has not made more than 23 starts in a season since 2003. And, oh yeah, the Astros are 10 games out in the wild-card race. ...

Astros fan for life

by Joe in Birmingham on Jul 22, 2008 5:30 PM CDT 0 recs

All it takes is a 12 game winning streak...

and a 12 game losing streak by the Cubs to be in first place.
and a few losing streaks by the Cards and Brewers too….

by entropic soul on Jul 22, 2008 5:36 PM CDT up 0 recs

illustrates the current value of prospects

even though Wolf was floated out there, his average performance meant that no one was overpaying for him w/ young players as might have happened in the past.

can’t say why the Astros apparently miniscule offer was the one they picked, but paul de podesta is in the mgmt in SD and as a Billy Beane-ish guy, he probably has some specific criteria he was looking for that Reinke fit, so they made the deal.

by lnewcomer on Jul 22, 2008 6:12 PM CDT 0 recs

In other forums...

In other forums, and in the Ken Rosenthal quote above, I’ve been seeing people deriding the trade, saying not-nice things about Randy Wolf’s pitching ability, but in the same breath dogging the Astros for “thinking they’re still in the race”. Make up your mind, folks. A team that thinks it’s going to the playoffs probably isn’t going to be trading for Randy Wolf.

So what I’m saying Crawfish Boxers is thanks for being smarter than the rest of the internet.

by AstroAndy on Jul 22, 2008 6:24 PM CDT 0 recs

My interpretation of this trade

Although some people have been interpreting this as a “Win Now” move, I think most of us here realize it’s not. Wade wasn’t hired just to handle the big club…he’s got a bigger picture to think about.

The way I’ve been looking at it is not that Ed Wade is playing to win, but that he’s playing not to lose. He has a rotation that hasn’t been very healthy this season, and a bullpen that he’s worried about overusing. Despite his oft-mentioned love for middle relievers, I’d bet that Wade is planning on keeping the bullpen largely intact over the offseason (my thinking is that since the bullpen is made up mostly of guys he acquired, getting rid of them soon wouldn’t be a good signal to send). But in the meantime, he’d like to keep from overusing the ‘pen so that their arms don’t fall off next May.

Pulling in Randy Wolf improves the ‘Stros odds of making it past six innings with their starter than they do with Runelvys, relieving the bullpen just a bit. And not only that, but it reduces the temptation to spot-start Sampson, and he can spend the rest of the season adjusting to his new life as a long reliever.

Trading away Reineke possibly helps solve some roster management issues for Wade. Before Reineke got traded, the Round Rock roster had 15 pitchers. The Fresno Grizzlies, who RR is playing tonight, have 13. Now I’m not sure how many pitchers is typical for a AAA roster, but there are some guys we’ve got down in AA who will probably be moved up a level by the end of the season, and we need to make room for them.

And who knows, maybe Wade just got tired of sending pitchers down, only to have to call them back up again two weeks later.

by AstroAndy on Jul 22, 2008 6:42 PM CDT 0 recs

This move makes me say

“Who cares”

I don’t see Wolf doing much for us and he’s not a difference maker.. he’s another bottom of the rotation guy to go in with all of our other bottom of the rotation guys.

We traded away a minor leaguer who has been pretty good so far in his career, but not outstanding… He may turn out to be pretty good but who knows.. that’s why they are called prospects.

Wolf will be a free agent next season and probably back in San Diego(where he signed because it was close to home over the off season).

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Jul 22, 2008 8:05 PM CDT 0 recs

I dunno.

I think if Reineke was ever going to make an impression on the big league level, we’d see him starting instead of Runelvys.

And if anything, when Wolf jumps ship in six months, we get a Type B draft pick for him.

Best of all, it gives us the option of keeping Oswalt on the shelf a little longer. I’d much rather him come back healthy instead of being rushed and if Wolf keeps him out just a little bit longer, I’m all for that.

by saylinara on Jul 22, 2008 8:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

maybe no Type B draft

Wolf is not an an automatic type B draft category from what I understand. He wasn’t last year and he’s doing worse this year.

I had not heard the thoughts on how this affects Roy Oswalt’s recovery time. You make sense. If Roy has what I had befeore it might take 6 to 8 weeks to heal.

Astros fan for life

by Joe in Birmingham on Jul 22, 2008 10:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

This may explain why Wolf wasn't a Type B last year:

From Steve Campbell at chron.com:

Free-agent type is determined by a two-year window. Last year, Wolf was dragged down by his 2006 numbers (5.56 ERA in only 12 GS and 56 2/3 innings). He has a stronger base to work off of this time. SC

by entropic soul on Jul 23, 2008 2:34 AM CDT up 0 recs

yeah

but the fact that he didn’t pitch a full season last year won’t help. i’m not saying he won’t be a class B free agent, but it’s FAR from a sure thing.

by littlevisigoth on Jul 23, 2008 8:26 AM CDT up 0 recs

DePodesta said in his blog....

that Wolf is currently on the bubble for Type B classification, but is a long shot for Type A class. (It’s in his replies to comments on his blog.) I think that means that Wolf is likely to be a Type B pitcher if he pitches well for the Astros.

by clack on Jul 23, 2008 6:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

well

i’m sure he knows a lot better than i do

by littlevisigoth on Jul 24, 2008 8:08 AM CDT up 0 recs

San Diego's Paul DePodesta on the Wolf Trade

http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/2008/07/wolf-to-astros.html

by lnewcomer on Jul 22, 2008 8:09 PM CDT 0 recs

hmm

that’s the most glowing review i’d ever read of Reineke, although most comments i’ve read were from other boards with people who regularly attend RR games that simply dismiss him as a marginal talent, so it’s not out of the realm that DePodesta pulled one over on us.

i still see it mainly as a salary dump without much of a loss from the Astros. Wolf will add a little bit of stability to the rotation following the Chacon debacle, which should at least keep our bullpen from wearing out. it’s not as much a “win now” move as it is a “stop losing so much” move. let’s all hope Wolf pitches well down the stretch, so we can either resign him as a reliable starter or get a draft pick for him.

by littlevisigoth on Jul 23, 2008 8:35 AM CDT up 0 recs

Padres' GM Towers was interviewed earlier in the year....

about the Padres’ “secret” to building cheap bullpens. One of his key points is that the Padres try to identify starting pitchers who haven’t been able to make it as major league players, but who might have some potential to become decent relief pitchers. What DePodesta says about Reineke falls in line with that thinking. We know Reineke throws fairly hard, but command has been a problem. But if he throws for only an inning, maybe he can throw harder and become a relief option for the MLs. It’s worth a gamble to them.

From the Astros’ standpoint, as someone mentioned, there are younger pitchers at Corpus who will need to be moved up to RR and pitching slots may be needed at some point. Reineke isn’t even on the Astros’ 40 man roster, and the Astros likely figure that he will be difficult to protect in the off-season.

by clack on Jul 23, 2008 9:11 AM CDT up 0 recs

Let me correct something I said...

I don’t know if Reineke was on the 40 man roster or not, because the roster I looked at already had Wolf listed. But my point still stands…the Astros would have had to protect Reineke this off-season on the 40 man to keep him, and they may need those slots for other players. And at 26 years old and still in AAA, the Astros may figure that they wouldn’t protect him.

by clack on Jul 23, 2008 9:34 AM CDT up 0 recs

ya, we may need some room to protect 05 draftee at the end of year

a lot of 05 draftee don’t progress that well but they have some real tools and potential. Bogusevic, Iorg, Manzella …. and so on.

Reineke was on the 40 man before trade. He was called up before AS and stay in 25-man 1day then back to 3A without pitching.

by HubertL on Jul 23, 2008 12:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

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