Pirates Acquire Wandy Rodriguez

[Witlon]

From Rotoworld, via Tom Singer of MLB.com...

Tom Singer of MLB.com reports that the Pirates are close to completing a trade for Wandy Rodriguez.
Singer says there's "no confirmation from either side of a tentative deal," but he also notes that Rodriguez "may already have begun the process of undergoing the pre-requisite physical before the deal becomes official." If it goes down, it's a surprising shift in tactics by the Pirates, as they had been focusing on adding a much-needed hitter. The Astros will likely have to pick up a decent chunk Wandy's deal, which pays him roughly $30 million over the next two and a half seasons. Interestingly, Rodriguez's next scheduled start is set to come against the Pirates.

Intresting. Hopefully we didn't give up too, too much for him, if this is in fact true. He's an upgrade in the rotation somewhere, I guess, but I don't know who would lose their spot.

[Kingdom]

A little bit of Wanda on the river. Hmm

[zodious]

Nice, the reds just beat him, I'm not too concerned.

[Witlon]

Heyman is reporting the deal is done, no word on what the Astros are getting back.

No word from the Pirates TV crew about it yet.

Edit: Alen Hanson was pulled from West Virginia's game, so it could be a midseason top 50 prospect for an average lefty. Same old Pirates.

[Witlon]

Nice, the reds just beat him, I'm not too concerned.

We apparantly can't hit Paul Maholm or the Notre Dame wide reciever. You shouldn't worry, anyway.

[Kingdom]

Hm.

[Kingdom]

Giving up Robbie Grossman, Colton Kane, and Rudy Owens.

[Kingdom]

Supposedly.

[Witlon]

At least it wasn't Hanson, but damn is that a lot to pay unless we're getting a huge amount of money back.

None of those guys are "Top Prospects", persay, but...maybe I'm underrating Wandy. I don't know.

Edit: Apparantly, a report came out that Hanson was in the deal, in addition to those three, which would be just insane, if it were anywhere close to being true.

[Kingdom]

IF they're give up these 4, they couldn't land a meaningful bat for that?

[Witlon]

Probably not. Everyone is holding out for one of the Top 3 pitchers for a bat(Arizona, anyway, wanted something like Tailon-Hansen+)

We'll see if Correia gets the boot from the organization now.

In the Prospect thread, Owens was as high as 11th, Cain as high as 9th and Grossman as high as #6 on our preseason lists(In a rush and just breezed through, but I'm 99% sure on that.)

[Kingdom]

Astros Reportedly Trade Wandy Rodriguez To Pittsburgh - The Crawfish Boxes

[Witlon]

My response to the Astro fans that were unhappy with the deal:

They got...

- Paul Maholm. (Owens: Innings eater lefty, long term #4 starter)
- Reed Johnson. (Grossman: Not good enough to handle center every day, not enough bat to play the corner but still a good #4 OF.)
- Oliver Perez. (Cain: All potential. Dissappointing results. Still has upside and a great arm.)

for

Wandy Rodriguez(Inning eating lefty with a hefty contract and a declining K-rate.)

[Slyder]

Giving up Robbie Grossman, Colton Kane, and Rudy Owens.

Wow Kane and Owens for Wandy Rodriguez? One of the most overrated pitchers in the national league because he's been the ace of a really really, really bad team.... This is a horrible trade for Pittsburgh.

[zodious]

We apparantly can't hit Paul Maholm or the Notre Dame wide reciever. You shouldn't worry, anyway.

and the reds currently cannot hit ANY of the pirates SP