JAN. 22: Rodriguez’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary upon making the Major League roster and up to $3MM worth of additional incentives, tweets Jon Heyman.
JAN. 21: The Astros and left-hander Wandy Rodriguez are in agreement on a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (Twitter link). Rodriguez is a client of the Wasserman Media Group.
Rodriguez, 37, will return to the organization that originally signed him as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 1999. Rodriguez made his big league debut with the Astros in 2005 and pitched with the team through the summer of 2012, when he was flipped to the Pirates for a package of Robbie Grossman, Rudy Owens and Colton Cain.
Last season, Rodriguez went to Spring Training with the Braves but wound up losing a battle for Atlanta’s fifth rotation spot with Eric Stults. The Rangers picked Rodriguez up and inserted him into their injury-riddled rotation — a move that yielded strong results for most of the season. Rodriguez posted a 3.20 ERA with a 50-to-23 K/BB ratio in 64 2/3 innings for the Rangers through his first 11 starts. However, the wheels came off in a hurry, as he’d go on to yield 24 runs in 22 1/3 innings over his final six appearances with Texas before being designated for assignment.
Rodriguez can serve as rotation depth for the Astros or compete for a spot as a long man or middle reliever in the bullpen this spring. Tony Sipp is currently projected to be the only lefty in the ’pen, so there’s certainly room to add another southpaw to the mix, although Rodriguez did struggle against same-handed batters quite a bit in 2015.
i remember when he had that 1 good year.
2008-2013 is a long year
That 1 year
14-12, that’s good?
Yeah, he had 6 pretty solid seasons in a row, especially considering he pitched home games as a lefty in Minute Maid. I’ve never really understood the criticism some people throw at Wandy. He was never a star, but until he got hurt in 2013 with the Bucs he was pretty consistently solid and dependable as a #3 or #4 starter. He might not have anything left, but I’m a Pirate fan, which is where he was when things started to go south, and I don’t wish ill on the guy.
have you looked at his stats? or are you going by memory. out of years with 10 or more wins, he was over .501 winning percentage once, 14-12. the rest, .500 or less.
Welll… He did play on some of the Astros bad teams…sooo..
I am certainly not going by winning percentage. With all due respect, a won-loss record is one of the worst ways to evaluate a pitcher statistically. If that is your primary basis for disliking Wandy, well… I don’t quite know how to respond to that. Nolan Ryan once led the league in ERA while going 8-16. Sometimes good, even great, pitchers pitch for bad teams.
I was going by a combination of memory, having frequently seen him pitch, and having looked over his stats multiple times previously. Now as I look at his stats again, I see 5 consecutive years of over 30 starts with an ERA of under 4 and a WHIP of under 1.32, and he was on the same pace in 2013 before being hurt. I would politely challenge you to come up with a list of other starting pitchers who had those same qualifying stats over the same span of years: it’s not going to be a very long list.
I am not big on the newer, more complex stats, but I cannot imagine you could find too many people who are going to agree with you if you base your argument solely on wins and losses. I never said he was a great pitcher, but he was solid on some very bad teams.
i liked wandy, but you’re overrating him during those so called good years.
OK. Maybe I am. Perhaps we have different definitions of “solid” and “dependable”, which is what I referred to him as during that era in my first post. I’m not really debating whether or not he was good or not, which is a matter of opinion anyone is entitled to. I’m more responding to using only wins and losses to make your analysis of him. I also meant to add (but forgot to) that one of Wandys weaknesses was being mostly a 6 or 7 inning starter, which also meant that he lost both wins and losses to his bullpen. In any case, we can agree to disagree.
No, I think you’re right on, connfyoozed. He was solid for a number of years. I don’t see how anyone can use wins and losses as their whole argument on how good a pitcher is.
Agreed, wandy has had several solid seasons and could be a #4-5 starter. He won’t make the 1 mil base salary unless he is on the major league club. So it’s a very low risk move, decent reward move. He won’t be a superstar but could contribute and help the Astros if he does make it with the club. Plus he provides depth for the team.
love to see ole Wandy back in houston!!!
World series bound!!!!!!!!
Think about an Aaron Hicks bad contract swap for Nick Swisher or Michael Bourn.
what
1 year of swisher, or 2 if he has 550 PA (hasn’t since 2013) for 15 mil a year or hicks for 550k and 4 years of control and put together a decent season last year. Hmmmmmm someone is clearly a braves fan. No one would ever make that trade.
Why,why,why would you spend a dime even for a minor league contract on a washed up hack
he could end up thriving in Houston again that’s why
As an Astros fan, I like the move. He looked really good with the Rangers last year until the latter part of the season – not sure if he got hurt or what happened. He had some solid years with a really bad Astros team. He may have enough in the tank to be a long reliever or simply another option for 5th starter if Scott Feldman or Brad Peacock fail. As it is Astros rotation of Keuchel, McHugh, McCullers and Fiers are probably set and if Feldman is healthy he will get the 5th spot. Peacock is also coming off surgery so I think this was just insurance. My guess is that he may pitch down in Fresno until/unless they need him.