Cardinals Mercifully Take Feliz Off Astro's Hands

By John Royal Fri., Aug. 20 2010 at 8:58 AM

Categories: Baseball, Sports

Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher

A GM worse than Ed Wade?

I didn't think it was possible, but apparently, there's another baseball general manager out there who is actually able to make Ed Wade look smart. But meet John Mozeliak, the GM of the St. Louis Cardinals who, yesterday, actually traded for Pedro Feliz.

That's right. There was somebody out there who was actually willing to trade for Feliz.

Of course, seeing as how the Astros sent cash along with Feliz - probably enough to cover the rest of Feliz's salary for this season - and got back a 25-year-old relief pitcher who was originally drafted as a catcher, maybe Mozeliak's not too dumb. It doesn't look like he departed with the next Jeff Bagwell, after all, and it's not like Feliz is going to be inserted into the starting lineup - though Tony LaRussa does have a thing for aging vets, so maybe Feliz just found himself as the starting third baseman on a team fighting for a playoff spot.

Now according to some comments I've seen attached to stories about this trade, all of us who consider Ed Wade to be a first-class idiot owe him an apology. But that's just not something I'm willing to do at the moment.

He does deserve a pat on the back for getting some team to take Feliz, especially if reports can be believed that the Cardinals originally contacted the Astros about Geoff Blum - yes, the Cardinals apparently are that desperate for anybody who can possibly play third base. But it needs to be remembered that it was Wade who signed Feliz to a $4.5 million contract in the first place.

Wade was widely and correctly mocked during the off-season for the Feliz signing as it appears that he was the only one who didn't know how to read a stat sheet, thus rendering him unable to figure out that Feliz was going to suck this season. But a guy who had trouble hitting with the Phillies and struggled to get RBI's in a lineup featuring Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard, and Jayson Werth was clearly not going to be able to hack it with the Astros, especially if he was making $4.5 million.

Maybe this move is an indication that Wade is finally figuring this whole GM thing, and that's he is finally figuring out how to read and understand baseball stats. But I seriously doubt it. The saying is, after all, that a broke clock is right twice the day, and seeing as how Chris Johnson had to play in the minors most of the season because of Feliz, I'm counting this trade as one of those two times where the broken clock is right.

I'm going to need more evidence, something more than just the trade of Feliz, to convince me that Wade has changed. This is a guy who gave a huge contract to Kazuo Matsui despite all facts pointing to Matsui having just had a career season he would not be able to repeat. He went out and signed Brandon Lyon to a contract that was way above the market value for injury-prone closers who had constantly failed to hold on to their closing jobs with multiple teams. And don't forget about the ridiculous deals given to Mike Hampton, Oscar Villarreal, Russ Ortiz, Shawn Chacon, and now Brett Myers.

Maybe Wade is reformed. Maybe he has learned something. And if he has, then I'll apologize, but I doubt that will happen.

We'll learn something about that come this off-season when it comes time to see if Wade makes his usual stupid free agent moves. I'm sure there's a washed-up middle infielder or an aging relief pitcher just looking to collect a major payday, and I'm sure they'll be looking at Wade and the Astros. If Wade bites, we'll know he's the same old Wade, and the same old Ed Wade is not something that the Astros can continue to handle.