The Astros will make public what they did with arbitration this morning, but there's some interesting information to be drawn from the fact that they probably did not offer arbitration to Wolf and Brocail.
Alyson Footer is reporting that:
General manager Ed Wade made it clear that in order to sign Wolf, he'd have to shave money off the payroll in other areas. Presumably, if he cannot trade Ty Wigginton and/or Jose Valverde, both of whom are due hefty raises in arbitration, Wolf may be too expensive and therefore headed elsewhere this winter.
So that would indicate Easy Eddie isn't finding a suitable trade partner for Wigginton and/or Valverde. Or that Wolf and Valverde would make about the same amount of money, and Easy Eddie is leaning towards keeping Valverde and letting Wolf go where he pleases, indicating that Hampton is Wolf's replacement in the rotation.
The Brewers did end up offering arbitration to Ben Sheets - and as he's a Type A free agent, the Astros (should they sign him, which is iffy at best) will have to give the Brewers two draft picks.
Footer also mentioned the Cardinals did not offer arbitration to Russ Springer, which opens the door for a possible return to the Astros in '09 - then making Brocail more expendable.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
