Red Sox Shouldn’t Focus on Wandy Rodriguez
Call it kicking the tires, or exhausting every possible option, but the latest starting pitcher to be linked to the Red Sox is Houston Astros, Wandy Rodriguez.
Nick Cafardo first reported that the Red Sox have indeed inquired about the lefty, putting them on the list with several other clubs that have interest in Rodriguez.
You may recall it was Rodriguez who drew a ton of interest at the trade deadline last season, but no club was willing to pull the trigger on the deal, including Boston. So what makes him so attractive now?
He’s 32-years old and is coming off a mediocre season in 2011. Rodriguez went 11-11 with a 3.49 ERA in 30 starts. He threw 191 innings, had a WHIP of 1.314 and a WAR rating of 2.7. Not bad numbers considering he was on the worst team in baseball last year.
Rodriguez has been a starter in Houston for all seven of his major league seasons. His career record is 73-75 and his lifetime ERA is 4.07. He’s always managed to stay around that .500 mark every year, with 2009 being his best season. That year he went 14-12, posted a 3.02 ERA, threw 205.2 innings, had a career best WHIP of 1.240 and a WAR rating of 5.1. No wonder he got a raise in salary after that season to $5 million.
The Dominican Republic native has playoff experience, albeit a small sample pool. He threw two games during the 2005 postseason in his rookie season, one game in the NLDS and one in the World Series where he took the loss, despite not starting the game.
The biggest red flag with Rodriguez is his salary. He is currently in the middle of a three-year deal that is paying him $34 million. He will make $10 million next year, $13 million in 2013 and a club option for $13 million in 2014. Would Houston be willing to eat some of his salary? Probably not considering they just got a new owner.
While Cafardo didn’t report on what it would take to land Rodriguez, you can bet that the Astros would want some prospects in return. With a new owner and the plan to move to the AL next season, Houston is in a rebuild mode and the best way to do that is through the farm system.
So here we are again. Prospects wanted in a trade. The Red Sox aren’t in a position to be aggressively pursuing players like Rodriguez if it’s going to cost them some top notch prospects. Maybe they can part ways with some lower level players, but it’s doubtful that Houston would let him go for that little in return.
A Josh Reddick lined package with a prospect from AA ball might be an option, but is Rodriguez worth $13 million next season to win 13-14 games? Sounds awfully similar to the John Lackey scenario.
If Theo Epstein, who was so desperate for a starting pitcher last July, didn’t make the move then, why would Ben Cherington make the move now? This move doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe that’s why it’s only being reported at this point and it may not hold a lot of water.
Nothing wrong with kicking the tires, just as long as you are kicking the right ones Ben.
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