So, the Stros trade Dan Wheeler, the club’s best relief pitcher over the past two seasons who is having a bad season this year, for Tampa Bay utilityman Ty Wigginton, who is the right-hand equivalent of the Stros’ Mike Lamb. The Stros then prepare to release 3B Morgan Ensberg, who has been mired in a slump for over year, but who has far better career hitting statistics (55 RCAA/.367 OBA/.475 SLG/.843 OPS) than either Wigginton (-11/.326/.448/.774) or Lamb (-15/.339/.428/.768) and is a far better third baseman defensively than either of them. By the way, even during his prolonged slump, Ensberg’s hitting (-8 RCAA) has been substantially more productive for the Stros than the hitting of other Stros’ starters Craig Biggio (-31 RCAA), Adam Everett (-32 RCAA) and Brad Ausmus (-53 RCAA) over the same period of time.
Thus, absent a further trade of either Lamb or Mark Loretta for a potentially productive prospect or two, this deal is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Why is a team whose main problem is bad pitching trading one of its better pitchers for a below-average National League hitter? Wheeler, Wigginton, Lamb and Ensberg’s career statistics are below the hyperlinked break. The abbreviations for the hitting stats are defined here and the same for the pitching stats are here.
Update: Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan agrees with my analysis ($) on the Wheeler for Wigginton deal and the give-up on Ensberg:
You got me. Rumors persist that Ensberg will be traded before his DFA period ends, but even if he is, the return wonít be much. So for Wheeler and Ensberg, the Astros get a 29-year-old infielder who runs a below-average OBP with good power and so-so defense. Mildly impressive at second base, Wigginton is just a guy at third base, and this is the first season since 2004 in which heís outhitting Ensberg. At that, the difference this year is just 17 points of EqA. This looks more like a tantrum by the Astros than a baseball decision, their frustration with Ensbergís injury woes and power outage getting the better of them.
Tom:
I agree, this is a bad trade with long lasting repercussions. With ole Timmy boy at the helm we are going to be delegated to watching a promising team be sold off player by player and then we will be talking about what could have been.
I admit that I have completely stopped watching the ëStros this season. Iím ready to watch some Football and see how the Texans have improved this season. I suspect that we will see a much improved team which could at least win 3 more games than last year. I wonít be surprised to see them just barely miss or make the playoffs but that remains to be seen. In all, I think we are in for an exciting ride this season.
I just don’t understand what they are doing. And Wheeler hasn’t really been that bad. In 40 of his 45 games he was pretty good, but in the other 5 he was terrible making his ERA balloon up. He allowed 17 of his 28 runs in those 5 games. And as you pointed out, he has been their best reliever for the past couple of seasons.
Two comments: 1. After the first inning of Sunday’s game, it should be obvious that the Astos’ priority need lies more in the area of pitching than in the area of utility infielder; 2. Regarding the Wheeler / Wigginton deal: The Devil Ray’s Sr. VP of Operations in Gerry Hunsicker, so is it any surprise they got the better of the deal? But, the bottom line is, Purpura is nothing more than Drayton’s bag boy, so the fault probably lies at the top . . . or bottom, depending on your perspective!