TCB Podcast Episode 30

He was a SS when we drafted him

Reflex-wise. I’d rather have CJ at SS than Wallace at 3rd. Big Daddy Brett was very bad at 1st base. He was Giambi bad.

mentioning Johnson at SS was in no way a serious suggestion on my part.

Two computers, mic’s (I use a gaming mic), audacity and Skype.

Wade’s signing of Hampton was widely praised at the time it occurred. About two months into the season, Dave Cameron wrote an article on fangraphs calling the Hampton signing the best free agent pitcher signing of the off-season (taking into account cost, of course). I think calling it a bad signing is engaging in a lot of hindsight. The Ortiz signing was a NRI. The Astros got a lot more out of Ortiz than most NRI pitchers will give you. I sometimes think that Ortiz’s time with the Astros would have turned out better with a better manager of pitchers than Cecil Cooper. So, yeah, I don’t with those signings as examples of Wade’s faults (though he certainly had his faults).

Sure, the injury risk was there. But that’s what you expect if you spend $2 – $3 million on an injury rehab starting pitcher. Teams sign players like Bedard, Webb, Harden, Smolz, etc., who are injury risks all the time. Hampton’s WAR for the Astros was worth pretty close to what he was paid. The injury risk pitchers are signed because they are cheap, and there is a chance that they can produce for a full year. I’ve always said that the worst part of the Hampton signing was the expectation that was created when Wade portrayed Hampton as a replacement for the more expensive Wolf.