Ed Wade and the Astros' busy week: How would you grade it?
It's been a crazy few days. Tension mounted. Emotions ran high. Ed Wade made headlines. The dust has officially settled in Indianapolis, but not so much around these parts. Tomorrow, I imagine that Matt Lindstrom, Brandon Lyon, and Pedro Feliz will be paraded in front of the media and don their Astros jerseys.
As the people who've weaseled their ways into the publishing content at this place, we gotten to be outspoken about our feelings. Front and center so to speak. I'll quickly recap them:
On Pedro Feliz (whom clack deemed to be not a bad signing):
On Brandon Lyon (who made me lose sleep):
On Matt Lindstrom (who won Ed Wade good will):
Opinions, outside of ours, varied around these parts—and rightfully so. But let's not let those varied opinions, and our respective rights to them, stand in the way of forming some kind of consensus opinion on the subject. You have to reactions we had and the links where you can review the various discussions surrounding them; basically everything you'd ever need to evaluate Ed Wade's big week. So what say you?
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I voted C+
The offense and bullpen most likely got worse. My biggest concern probably is the offense’s ability to score runs. The bullpen is likely to be worse because the Astros lost Valverde. However, these deficiencies were likely to occur, under any circumstances, when the owner tells you to reduce the budget by $10 million.
While I think Feliz is an acceptable signing in the context of the in-house alternatives, he provides mostly defensive improvment, but doesn’t add as much to the offense as the Astros need. However, at the time Wade made the signing, there were very few 3d base options in the market which would provide a significant upgrade over Feliz offensively. Beltre was the best 3d baseman available, but he would have provided only marginal improvement over Feliz’s offense—and he probably requires a multi-year contract at a price up to $5 million/year higher. Tejada was probably the best offensive option available, but Wade apparently dismissed the possibility of re-signing him due to his demand for a multi-year contract. I could second-guess Wade and say he should have waited out Tejada to see if he would lower his demands if he remains on the market well into January or February. Wade will be criticized if Tejada eventually signs a low cost contract for only 1 or 2 years. Other options for more offense, such as DeRosa, Branyan, Glaus, have significant defensive question marks, up to and including whether they can feasibly play third base as a starter at this point.
We’ve talked about the bullpen decisions a lot, and clearly it is a downgrade any time you lose Valverde. I’m not overly worried about the bullpen, though. Lyon is a quality pitcher and Lindstrom has a decent chance of upside in the closer position; when you add them to some younger guys with upside (Gervacio, Fulchino, Arias, Sampson), I think there are some quality pieces for Mills and Arnsberg to move around and work with. The overpay for Lyon probably was necessary, in Wade’s mind, in order to be comfortable with taking a high upside risk with Lindstrom.
I think Wade reached the conclusion that the starting pitching costs are beyond the Astros’ means. The signings so far confirm that conclusion. Penny was overpaid. He isn’t worth 2 years at $7.5 million. Wolf at 3 years and $10 M/year is a huge risk —-one that the Brewers may regret badly in a year or two. However, I do think that the Rangers’ deal with Harden isn’t that bad, and I wouldn’t mind if the Astros had entered into a contract like that with him. Wade may wait things out to see if an injury risk type player is available at a very cheap cost.
Overall, Wade earns a C+ based on the budget circumstances he is trying to deal with. But it is fairly clear that he opted for certainty/stability, with some premium involved. I think that is the story behind the Lyon and Feliz signings. As it stands, the offense will probably struggle badly. But I will give Wade credit for an apparent plan of improving the defense, which sometimes is the cheapest way to improve the pitching.
I gave him a B-
I think he could waited to make some moves, Juan Cruz last year was a very good pitcher that didn’t sign for late and was relatively cheap at $2.25mil. Signing Lyons was a bit premature, not to mention overpaid, but it does provide some insurance at the closer position. The thing that bothers me though is this is the exact same deal given to Matsui, and that deal is considered one his worst moves.
Lindstrom was by far his best move, and Feliz is somewhere in between Lyon and Lindstrom. I also took into account Wades track record of taking a lot of criticism initial, and later making people eat their own words. All that being said GM’s aren’t going to have perfect records if Matsui and possibly Lyons are his worst moves the Astros aren’t all that bad off, especially with rebuilding the farm system being the main focus.
B
If he hadn’t overpaid for Lyon, it would have been B+; an A would have meant improving the rotation. I’ll be very interested to see what Tejada and some of the other free agent starters sign for. That will affect this grade. If we could have waited Miggy out and got him for $5M, or gotten Bedard, Sheets, Duch, or one of those types for $5M, it will make these moves look worse. If those guys all get big $, it will make these moves look better.
As it stands, Wade filled most of the holes and stayed under budget, so that deserves some kudos. While it will take some luck, this roster has the potential to be competitive, which is good considering the financial circumstance.

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