Astros Acquire Randy Wolf

Randy Wolf, that name sounds familiar... he's Woody Williams' evil twin, right?

Stupid Astros

Good lord. Are Dave Littlefield and Ed Wade the same person by chance.

Dear god...

Is Astros management braindead?? Or are they just choosing to ignore the fact that they suck?

The Astros have gone from talking about being stupid, to being stupid.
I feel sorry for their fans.

come onnnn Lance Berkman.

we might get a run at least once next week if we get Lance Berkman back.

With Oswalt on the DL, bringing in Wolf to eat some innings and keep the bullpen healthy isn't a horrible idea. It would be a bad idea if their happened to be a decent facsimile available in free agency, but there isn't, and Wolf shouldn't be very expensive.

This will only be a bad move if they give up something of value.

Here is to hope that they do give up something of value. But seriously, what kind of outfielders do they have in the minors? Hell, what do yall feel about Michael Bourn?

But in reality this isnt the smartest idea of the Astros, since they are not going to compete in that division this year. But if they are willing to explore a trade I think SD can get at least one prospect for it, not a high profile one, but something decent.

SD...
doesnt it suck that our team has a bleak future and theres really no ending in site.

we're not selling off like the A's and we're never gonna make a huge signing. combine that with the fact that our best prospects are either 3 years away or already here and im not feeling great.

I feel sorry for any fans stuck with Mr. Wade as their GM. His record of futility speaks for itself. It wasn't coincidence that the Phils won a division title a couple years after he left.

I'm just going to copy and paste my comment from the earlier entry about the Astros looking for a reliever:

This is hilarious.

I guess it all depends on what they have to give up. If it's just salary relief and some prospect who's never going to make it, like Michael said above- Wolf could eat up some innings while Oswalt is down. Not sure why they wouldn't just give those innings to a prospect, but I can see the argument.

This team has been pretty lousy for two years and I feel pretty blue.
Royals and Pirates fans, how do you do it? Does the bad feeling eventually become numb after a few years? Or does the hope that next year cant possibly be as bad keep you going?
Im just looking for some pointers to get me through the next five years or so.

This is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. Honestly how will Randy Wolf help much. I would be surprised if he helped Houston's record by more than 1 game. Wades going to overpay (like usual) and Drayton Mclane is going to wonder why we suck for years to come. Please lord make it stop.

The only logic I could possibly see in this is that if we can't resign Wolf then we get a draft pick. Young players are things we need most. Not 31 year old pitchers whose arm falls off every year. This sucks.

the best thing the astros can do is "fire sale" and re-stock their farm system. They have no chance at competing with the limited SP they have!

My theory is that Wade has huffed every can of canned air in the Astros offices. That is the only way anyone would think this is a good idea. He's a terrible GM. He makes horrible trades, doesn't seem to be able to evaluate talent and his keyboard is full of cookie crumbs.

Astros do suck and i am not defending Wade's movements but I think Wolf can be any worse than what we got and he will eat innings and if we decide not to sign him if (we already decided) we decide he sucks than we get a draft pick. I think Wolf has a lot of potential....to give up home runs to the left and right field gods in the juice box

Is Ed Wade on crack? Seriously, is he really under the delusion that 1. The Astros can get back in the race, being 10 games out of the Wild Card and staring up at the 3 best records in the NL and 2. That Randy Wolf will help them do that??

Good idea, let's for a mediocre starter whose numbers are only passable because he plays half his games in the biggest pitchers park in the majors, and bring him over to one of the biggest hitters parks in the majors.

Ed Wade is probably the biggest idiot around baseball.
ALL of the other teams offices know it too. They know that he's getting the raw end of the deal just about every time he proposes the trade. Look at EVERY team that's made it to a World Series or the playoffs...
What have they done to get there.....They've built their farm!
Diamondbacks, Rockies, Cubs, Tigers, Indians, Phillies, Mets, Braves(gross)....
I could go on forever.
You'd think the trend would keep moving...He's a George W. Bush to baseball.

No offense averybear11, but how exactly have the Cubs built their farm up? The others I can see, but not the Cubs-and not to mention they haven't been to the WS since WWII. The Phillies also built theirs up through Wade. I am not sticking up for him because I don't like him and I was mad when they signed him,but he did produce their main contributors this season for the Phillies and he can't be worse than Purpura was. I don't think we would have gotten much more for Lidge than we did get and I also doubt that Lidge would have done the same thing here as he has done in Philly. Did good on the Valverde trade and the Tejada trade (didn't give a good thing away for him), signed Erstad who is paying off huge

But I am thinking if they sign a Sheets and a number 2, Lowe I am hoping, then they would be competitive next year. This move makes no sense unless it is to ease the burden of a crappy pitching staff till next year or if he could possible be a type B FA in the off season it would make sense because it shouldn't cost too much for him.

Well, Ed Wade got us in this mess by not signing a good starter in the offseason.

But getting Wolf may not be a bad idea. Throwing out young starters to the wolves every other day may completely wreck any chance of them developing into solid starters.

Also, the Astros offense is very solid, so while I doubt (even me as a fan) that the Astros can contend this year, at least they'll be more competitive and keep putting butts in the seats, and maybe even beat the Cubs some more and play spoiler. ;)

I just hope Wade doesn't send anything of real value and admits his mistakes and acquires some solid starters in FA next year.

Oh, and those of you who call for a gut rebuilding for the Astros, we've been through that: What do we have to rebuild with?!?

Wolf is a decent 4/5 starter and is left-handed, which is what has kept him employed so long in the first place. That said, why in the world would you have a left-hander with a penchant for giving up the long ball into a park that is a feast for right handed power hitters? Further, the Astros are garbage, so why in the world would the Padres send Wolf there as opposed to a contending team that would probably pay more?

There are way too many teams in front of the Astros to take them seriously as a playoff club.

That said, Wolf is a solid pickup. I'm surprised the Padres couldn't get more than Reineke. He's a solid pitcher with a decent arm. Ranked #6 prospect in the Astros organization preseason by Kevin Goldstein at BP and #9 by the folks at BA. Of course, the Astros had one of the 2 worst farm systems, so that doesn't say a ton.

Getting decent K's at AAA, but he is old for a prospect and both reports seem to suggest he'd be best in the bullpen. Not a closer, but maybe a solid 7th inning type.

Basically, he is exactly the kind of player that the Padres have enough of. They should have gambled on a toolsy, lower level bat instead. But that's just me.

Still can't believe the Padres couldn't do better. At the same time, Wolf torpedoed his value with a few of his recent starts. He had a nice stretch for a while, but has given up 18 ER in his last 4 starts.

Hopefully we can get a draft pick out of him.

i don't mind the deal. the astros aren't gonna make the playoffs, but chad reineke isn't exactly an intricate part of their future. if anything, he'll eat starts for the rest of the year (as opposed to crap like jack cassel, who's starting for em today), and the team can get a draft pick for him like someone mentioned earlier

would someone please explain to me, in a calm, non-condescending way, how that makes ed wade the biggest idiot in baseball?

Tim, I'd appreciate your thoughts about my take on this trade.

The way I see it is that Houston sent a future reliever who is already 26 years old for a pitcher that they will end up getting a draft pick for. So theoretically, aren't the Astros really just trading Reineke and money (Wolf's salary) for the draft pick?

Couldn't it be looked at that this is actually a move to turn that 26 year old into a younger prospect who may or may not pan out. At worst, Wolf has to be worth B level compensation.

Would love to hear what you think of that theory.

"Oh, and those of you who call for a gut rebuilding for the Astros, we've been through that: What do we have to rebuild with?!?"

Hmm how about Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, Miguel Tejada, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt, Jose Valverde, Wandy Rodriguez, hell maybe even Kaz Matsui. Now we all know that the Astros fuckked up by drafting Castro at 10 but whatever.

I doubt that Wolf will net the Astros a draft pick. According to the Elias compensation marks from 2005-06 he was a "Type C" FA, which wouldnt even net compensation under the 2006 CBA. Judging that he hasnt' been much better in the past two seasons as he was in the period 04-06, i'm not optimistic that we'd get a pick. If the Astros do get a sandwich out of this, then it's a deal thats in their favor.

Houston Astros: this year's Pittsburgh Pirates.

Man, am I relieved. I just knew, when I heard Ed Wade just aquired Randy Wolf on the radio, he had probably given up something useful (ie, Norris, Paraz, Johnson), but who cares about Chad Rienke? He's on his 2nd stint in AAA and he's barely average there.

OK, I understand the concept of draft picks, but what happens if he becomes another Carlos Beltran ordeal?
I heard Chad Reineke could be pretty good in the bigs.
But if I had to say, I think he might have made the right move here.
I despise him, but he did make a pretty positive move here.
I've been an astros fan since I was less than a year old.
But here's the problem with Wade and the problem he had in Philly...His team struggled, but he never made any call-ups.
All of their great prospects would've probably been wasted if they didn't get him out of there sooner.
Ryan Howard wasn't in his mind.
I just have a bad feeling in my gut that he's in this for himself and none other.

The Astros have to be the most poorley run organazation in the MLB. I cant think of one team that won't give up and is trading prospects for veterans when they're 10 games out.

For those who are hating on Ed Wade, you could do it based on the horrible job he did with the Phillies. However, I believe that Drayton McLane is the one calling the shots here, and therefore probably told Wade to go out and get a pitcher.

With that being said, I happen to like Randy Wolf. He has struggled of late but he strikes out a guy an inning, he eats a lot of innings when he's healthy, he's always had a good breaking ball, and he's a hell of a lot better than anyone else in Houston's rotation outside of a (currently hurt) Roy Oswalt and an inconsistent Wandy Rodriguez. I think this is a good pickup for them, only a few months too late. They should have signed Kyle Lohse in March...

I'm surprised this is all it took to get Wolf. Wouldn't teams like the Cardinals, Braves, Mets, Tigers, and Yankees be interested enough to offer someone better than Reinke? This, like Kyle Lohse signing for onll 5MM, makes no sense to me.

MattyMets,

Since April 25th, Randy Wolf is posting a collective 5.28 ERA...that isn't struggling as "of late" but just not being a very good pitcher.

I do love the fact that the Astros have one of the worst farm systems in baseball (per Baseball America) and as soon as one of the non descript guys gets traded...he's the next Chad Qualls. If it was Chris Johnson being traded, would he have been the next David Wright or something?

Arent the Astros 10 games out of the wild card? Ed Wade is an idiot. First he trades for (and gives up a ton for an aging player) Tejada the day before the Mitchell report comes out (knowing he would be in it). Then the same for Valverde....now this crap. They didnt give up much but come on....this guy is the worst GM EVER! Good luck Astro fans, enjoy mediocracy for the next 5-10 years.

Reineke? Screw it. Anyone calling Ed Wade an idiot here needs to take his advice and look in the ******* mirror. The Astros gave up a non-prospect (Chad Qualls my ass) for a veteran who will likely provide a draft pick. I don't think he'll pitch all that well (see my Woody Williams comment above), and he certainly won't put us in contention, but when your rotation is Moehler, Rodriguez, Backe, Hernandez, Cassel, you desperately need help. Randy Wolf for Chad Reineke is a perfectly acceptable deal.

"Then the same for Valverde....now this crap"

They traded Chad Qualls, Chris Burke and Juan Gutierrez for Valverde. Have you even looked to see how these guys are doing in Arizona?

Qualls: 2-7, 3.80 ERA, 2 SVs, 43K

Burke: .186 avg, .305 OBP, .517 OPS

Gutierrez: 2-10, 7.18 ERA, 1.89 WHIP

So what am I missing here with this Valverde deal? Outside of Qualls, the Astros didn't give up much at all here.

I won't say that Wade hasn't made some bonehead moves, but I can appreciate that he didn't sit on his hands like the last GM Houston had. He was given a mandate by the owner to make changes and try to win. He made a ton of moves. Some worked, some didn't. I just don't see how anyone can say that this deal was a failure.

I wonder if Wolf signs a dirt cheap deal with the Dodgers next year to be the 5th starter?

Dmok,
Trading any prospects for 2 months of guy when your 10 games out of the wildcard is brainless. Hes not going to net you any prospects better than the one you gave away. Its a first year GM (with the astros) failing to admit hes made bad moves and failing to give up this year when he knows his job is on the line. He wont make it past the allstar break next year. Name one good move hes made this year? Ton of prospects for Valverde and Tejada+bad moves, over paying for matsui=bad move, trading for a guy 10 games out=bad move. The guys an idiot....enough said.

I'll take a supplemental pick over Reineke any day. The Astros have plenty of arms better than his, and that's saying something given the state of their system.

And if you do wish to mock someone in the organization for this, direct your insults at Drayton McLane.

Are you Ed Wade?

Clarknaddison, how are you coming up with the idea that Houston traded a ton of prospects for Valverde? Of the 3 players they gave up, 1 is a prospect and he is struggling big time in AAA.

Idiot Astros ...

It's tough, but they just might be the worst team in the league when it comes to evaluating their talent and their opportunity for success.

Idiot Astros ...

It's tough, but they just might be the worst team in the league when it comes to evaluating their talent and their opportunity for success.

FREAKING TYPEKEY

I dont see why any Astros' fan would complain about this deal. Wolf has pitched alright this year, he can be effective at times.

He's cheap and will eat quite a few innings.

Also the Astros gave up practically nothing in order to get him. Reineke will most likely never pan out.

heck maybe you'll even get a draft pick out of it.

The Astros have the players they just need the pitching to stay healthy and perhaps take a look at a starter in the offseason.

I hate Drayton McClane. I rather roll over and die than do this stupid stuff.