Trading Wandy

I’m not sure how much the Astros could get for Wandy, partly because I’m not sure how other teams feel about him. The Rangers might like him better than other teams, if I recall correctly that Nolan Ryan liked Wandy. (However, I would be a bit skeptical as to how Wandy might fare in the Rangers’ ballpark.) The thing is that Wandy falls into a lower tier on the list of possible pitching trade candidates (starting with Greineke and Garza and possibly including Billingsley, Zambrano, Buerhle, Josh Johnson). I would be concerned that the Yankees or Rangers would consider Wandy to be a fall back “cheap” option, and would expect that they don’t have to give up much.

If the Yankees traded for Wandy, I would want Montero, their top pick, but I doubt that they would give him up for Wandy. The Yankees don’t have much in the way of high level position player prospects after Montero. The Yankees do have some good pitching prospects. Unless the Astros get a big over pay, I would prefer to keep Wandy. Even if the Astros don’t sign him as a free agent next year, he still is likely to produce good draft choices when he leaves—which could be more valuable than the possible prospects that Wandy return right now.

If we traded Wandy, I’m undecided on what kind of return we’d get.

Positives:

-Not a lot of options right now on the FA market for above average starters, meaning there’d certainly be a market for him.

-He’s good and he’s left-handed.

Affordable-for now.

Negatives:

-Wandy isn’t exactly young. (He turns 32 next month.)

-Can be inconsistent at times and doesn’t seem to pitch all that well outside of Houston.

-In his last year of arbitration and not locked in to a long-term contract.

-Doesn’t really profile as a #1 starter.

Even with all the negatives, I’m sure the Astros could still end up with a decent return, but assuming they do, I’m concerned about who takes his spot in the rotation. We already seem stretched pretty thin at 5th starter, so I can’t imagine having to fill another rotation spot with what we have available. (Also, trading Wandy would pretty much make me think the Astros have given up on 2011 and are going for the #1 pick in the 2012 Amateur Draft.)

I’d say no myself at this point, but I’m just a fan.

Around the trade deadline last season, I would have said yes.

Now if the ‘Sros could get a SWEET deal with Plus prospects in return for Wandy, then I’d say YES.

Trading Wandy, I would hope Fernando Abad seriously gets a look at a starter. But, I don’t think we should trade Wandy considering how bad our starting rotation could be without him. Lets wait until our minor league pitchers are ready for the big stage. But if it means that teams like Texas & New York would be willing to send us extra prospects because they are desperate, that may be better than having to wait in the future when we would get considerably less for Wandy. But I see no reason in trading Wandy at this point since he would be extremely valuable to us.