Ed Wade

How are you spending your Saturday morning? In between catching up on work email and reports - I'm going to take a look at the job Ed Wade has done as GM of the Houston Astros. My curiosity in checking out Wade was sparked by a semi-defense of Wade by Richard Justice who I respect as one of the best baseball writers in the country.

As a Red Sox fan I'm a bit biased against Wade since when in Philadelphia he traded Curt Schilling and he fired Terry Francona as manager. Plus when I've posted about Ed Wade in the past:

As in here.

And here.

I haven't been kind to Ed Wade. I think the phrase I used was "jerkface loser." Richard Justice's semi-defense makes me wonder if I was being too unkind. I went over the depth chart of the team and I have to say my opinion of Ed Wade hasn't changed.

Ed Wade - A Disaster of a GM

Ken Rosenthal takes Ed Wade to task for his responsibility in the Chacon confrontation. Rosenthal says that it's Wade that needs to look in the mirror. I say its Wade that needs to get fired.

The trade for Miguel Tejada is a disaster. First Tejada gets named in the Mitchell Report and then it turns out he's been lying about his age. Meanwhile Luke Scott has been great for the Orioles with 12 HR and an .868 OPS in the harder to hit AL. Also Matt Albers who was included in the deal could really be helping a weak Astros bullpen.

I can't think of any move made by Ed Wade that has been good for the Astros. Is Jose Valerde and his 4.34 ERA really an upgrade over Chad Qualls? Michael Bourn for Brad Lidge was a steal - for the Phillies! Kaz Matsui? Really?

Think about this for a minute - the Astros would be better off right now if they had no GM. If they had no GM then they would have an outfield of Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence and Luke Scott - so their offense would be better. The pitching would be better with Matt Albers still in the pen along with Brad Lidge and Qualls. Would they be in first right now? Probably not but then again they wouldn't be spiraling out of control either.

If they had no GM then they wouldn't have bloggers like me making fun of them for having a jerkface clown for a GM.

Ed Wade - A Real Piece of Work

Here's something I posted almost 3 years ago about Ed Wade. Here's a bit from the post:

Late this summer, Wade repeatedly chewed out closer Billy Wagner - sometimes in person, sometimes over the phone - for comments he read in the newspaper and during contract negotiations. Wagner took this verbal abuse for a while, then got fed up and began hanging up on Wade.

Years earlier, Wade called a team meeting to scream at players. One pitcher said everyone buried their heads in their arms so Wade couldn't see them laughing at him.

Makes you wonder if maybe Shawn Chacon was goaded into his actions. Wade always seemed like a jerk. I'm guessing he won't be long lasting in Houston and that this was perhaps his last shot at being a MLB GM.