Fresh off new ownership and an upcoming move to the American League, the Houston Astros are attempting to shed salary, rebuild, compete at a level that the proud franchise has missed out for so many years.
CBS Sports reporter Danny Knobler posted today that the Houston Astros are willing to eat roughly half of the salaries of Carlos Lee ($18.5M in 2012) and Brett Myers ($23M in 2012-13), but will not take on any of Wandy Rodriguez's ($34M in 2012-14). The Astros however, are running into many roadblocks when trying to find a trade partner.
Carlos Lee is an interesting case. As a 10-5 player, an automatic no-trade clause is built into his contract. ESPN's Jayson Stark reported earlier today that the Baltimore Orioles may be a suitor for Lee, as they are not expected to bring back Vladimir Guerrero.
Brett Myers is simply an average pitcher at this point. Although having stellar numbers for an Astro pitcher in 2010, (14-8, 3.14 ERA) he has been largely inconsistent outside of that season of late.
Wandy Rodriguez is probably the most attractive candidate. MLB.com's Brian McCtaggart tweeted that Houston is looking for a shortstop. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I will guarantee the Marlins will not trade Hanley for Wandy, in any kind of package. The Astros may look toward the AL East, where Boston and New York could look to acquire Wandy (with Boston possibly bringing in a third team, or New York shipping Pena/Nunez).
Look for the Astros to look towards the AL to dump all three of these contracts. With the added Wild Card team coming and extra money to spend, the AL East, as well as the AL West, are surely looking to stock up.