Richard Justice recently reported that the Astros have pulled the plug on trade talks with the Rockies on left-handed starter Wandy Rodriguez, 17 hours before the 48-hour window of negotiations closed. That report from Justice has since been verified by every baseball reporter that owns a phone.
The buzz from the outset of negotiations was that the Astros were demanding the Rockies take on all of Wandy Rodriguez' salary, which amounts to about $37 million through 2014. Dan O'Dowd was reportedly happy to oblige with that portion of the deal. However, Ed Wade was also asking the Rockies to include one of their top prospects, namely Wilin Rosario, or laughably, Drew Pomeranz.
Understandably, Dan O'Dowd wasn't too keen on such a transaction. The Astros are in no hurry to trade Rodriguez, and it made more sense from the beginning for Houston to wait until the offseason with more suitors bidding for the 32-year-old's services unless the Rockies made a foolhardy desperate lunge. The Rockies might revisit acquiring Rodriguez in three and a half months. In the end, it was two GMs approaching a deal from extremely different sides that seemed to have little hope of finding common ground.
This move means Rodriguez will be staying put in Houston the remainder of the season and cannot be traded to the Rockies or any other team until the offseason.