The latest domino
Another big-name Houston Astro gone? Wandy Rodriguez claimed on waivers
UPDATE: Colorado is the team that claimed Wandy Rodriguez. The Astros have until 11 a.m. Thursday to decided what to do. If they simply let Rodriguez go to the Rockies to shed salary without getting anything in return the fact that Colorado is the team will make the Astros look even worse.
After all, the Rockies are seven games under .500 themselves. They'd be making this move for the future rather than to contend in 2011.
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Wandy Rodriguez could be on the verge of joining Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn as ex Astros. A yet-unidentified mystery team has claimed the left-handed pitcher — arguably the Astros best starter — off of waivers.
Early reports are that the New York Yankees, the squad that many expected to nab Rodriguez at the trade deadline, is not the claiming team.
The cost-cutting Astros can now be free of Rodriguez's $36 million in salary if they desire by simply letting Rodriguez go to the claiming team. The organization could also opt to negotiate a trade with the claiming team or pull Rodriguez back from waivers and keep him.
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated first tweeted the news of Rodriguez being claimed.
Rodriguez may have never turned into the dominant No. 2 starter the Astros thought he could be, but he'd be an extremely valuable piece for a team in the playoff race. He is 9-9 with a 3.31 ERA, numbers that look even better when you consider that Houston is the worst team in Major League Baseball. Rodriguez has also turned into a standup representative for the Astros in the community, as he showed at the recent Astros Wives Gala.