Woody Williams signed to 2 year deal by Astros

[McKain]

Taken from Rotoworld:

The Astros are nothing if not predictable. We don't have a problem with this signing. Sure, Williams would have been better for one year than two, but it looks like every free agent will get at least one extra year this winter. The trouble with Williams is that his innings count has fallen every year lately, dropping to 145 2/3 last season. Also, he's not someone a team can have a lot of confidence in come playoff time. In an NL Central filled with mediocre, right-handed heavy lineups, he should post a pretty good ERA when healthy. The Padres will get a supplemental first-rounder and the Astros' second-round pick for losing him.

2 years, 12.5 million. I sincerely hope the Astros don't think this lets them not re-sign Pettite or Clemens, but I have an odd feeling they want to get away from those two and instead go with a different route of cheaper, high-reward options.

[HollywoodLeo]

The Padres will get a supplemental first-rounder and the Astros' second-round pick for losing him.

I thought they did away with draft pick compensation this offseason?

That's certainly nice for us if they didn't.

[McKain]

There were a lot of reports that compensation was going to be eliminated in the new CBA, but they kept it in and instead altered it in some way I can't remember. The changes were too complex for me to care about, anyway.

[Slyder]

Wow very nice smart signing by the Astros. Williams always seems to be a very solid middle of the rotation guy whereever he pitches. The one question I have is how will the ball park affect him?

[Halladay_is_God]

6.25 per year for Williams seems too much

[Slyder]

6.25 per year for Williams seems too much

He's been rather consistantly solid most places he's pitched. Which is more than what you could say about most/almost all of the guys on the market this year. Plus I figure by the time the second tier sign we will agree this is a bargain compared to most of them.

[HollywoodLeo]

He wasn't that solid as early as two years ago, and last year he was on the DL for quite some time. (Although he was pretty solid when he was healthy.)

[love_that_reefer]

Woody in that ballpark scares me but a good signing for the Stros. They need pitching badly as they aren't going to get Clemens or Pettitte back.