Apparently Wandy ain't budging.
Ed Wade:
We gave it our best effort. We had a lot of conversations, but were not able to reach a common ground. This does not minimize what we think of Wandy or the expectations that we have for him."
McTaggart has more on the case, which will be heard on February 17.
Wade:
"It's part of the business. We don't enjoy it. We pride ourselves on trying to settle all these things if at all possible. I'm sure that if Wandy had a preference, he would like to have a negotiated settlement over going to an arbitration hearing. It was something that was unavoidable...
..."It's something that's always in the back of our mind, particularly for a player who's never been through the process before. It's designed to determine where the player fits in the salary structure. It really comes down to the marketplace and comparables. Performance is discussed and part of the criteria, but at the end of the day the exercise is to slot the player at the appropriate numbers. Ninety-nine times out of 100 we're able to do that through the negotiating process."
Unfortunately this is the one time that Wandy gets to hear that the Astros don't think he's worth as much as he's worth, and I certainly doubt that this was "unavoidable."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
