FRIDAY: You may have missed this story amid the Winter Meetings chaos. Read the article below, and then check out Richard Justice’s take.
WEDNESDAY: According to Jose de Jesus Ortiz, Astros ace Roy Oswalt is willing to restructure his contract and backload money to free up team resources to acquire another starter. Oswalt has a guaranteed $47MM left on his contract over the next three years.
The cash-strapped Astros considered Ty Wigginton a non-tender candidate at one point, but trade interest is strong (the deadline is Friday). Wigginton may be too pricey for the D’Backs though. At the least, they’d have to get creative. And while the Astros made an inquiry on Randy Johnson, Ed Wade implied the pitcher is out of his price range. The recent Michael Barrett rumor was downplayed as well.
