In an article about how the Astros were among 29 teams in baseball (minus the Yankees) who had to trim payroll.
"At the end of the 2008 season we determined that in order to keep our club together, our payroll would have to move from about $98 million to $120 million, and for about a week we thought we would be able to do that," said Wade.
"Then the 'real world' economic woes started to clarify. Sponsors went away, some via bankruptcy, and our budget went south. At one point we thought the payroll would have to be at about $95 million. And it was at that point that we had to completely shut down our negotiations to bring back Randy Wolf, something that I never had to do before.
"We also reconciled that we wouldn't be able to afford Ty Wigginton's salary arbitration number, and we were actually plotting other ways to trim payroll when [team owner] Drayton McLane allowed us to stretch to a number between $105 and $107 million, budgeting at a loss for the first time in his ownership history. Even at that level, Wolf and Wigginton ran beyond our means."
Projecting a loss! God bless us, everyone. Go to Academy and buy a shirt, dadgummit.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
