Pitcher Roy Oswalt says he's open to being traded if it helps the Astros rebuild. Oswalt spoke candidly on the matter in an interview with Rob Dibble and Jim Memolo on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM.
"When you get to a point where you need to start rebuilding they're going to start with a guy that's got a lot of value and I understand that if I'm throwing well that they maybe can get two or three guys that can fill holes that they need. I told them from the very beginning when they get to that point I would be open to [being traded]."
The 32-year-old righty explained that if traded, he would want to go to a "true contender". Oswalt's deal, which calls for him to earn a combined $31MM in this season and next, has a full no-trade clause.
Jayson Stark of ESPN recently reported that a friend of Oswalt believes the hurler's preferred destinations are Texas, St. Louis, and Atlanta, though it's hard to imagine any of those teams being a fit. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports believes that Oswalt might be the best starter available at this year's trade deadline.
When asked by Memolo how much longer he planned on pitching, Oswalt responded that he would assess his future in two years. Oswalt's contract holds a $16MM club option for 2012 with a relatively meager $2MM buyout.
Padres?
Oswalt said he wanted to go to a true contender. Despite the Padres leading the NL, I don’t think they’re a “true contender”. Aside from that, the Padres were prepared to dump their big salaries this year once they fell out of contention. If they do manage to stay in contention, I can’t imagine them adding a big contract in their roster to boost the one aspect of their team that is their strongest suit.
“Despite the Padres leading the NL, I don’t think they’re a “true contender”. Head asplode. Tell that to the Yankees and Twins.
What? There is no contradiction there. The case that the Padres are not likely contenders is easy to make. The case that the Yankees are not likely contenders is very difficult to make.
Short & sweet: for the Padres to make the playoffs, just about everything will have to go right for them (very few significant injuries, most players playing at or above potential). For the Yankees to fail to make the playoffs, just about everything will have to go wrong.
How about the Tigers? maybe a Guillen, Ramirez, and Figaro for Oswalt and some other A or AA Prospect. That would work out well for everyone, Guillen started his career there, and might be willing to come back. If Oswalt really wants to go to a contender, they would be the best bet to go after a starter.
Great idea, not a good enough package. Carlos isn’t a proven outfielder and his health issues the past couple seasons hurts him. He’s also aging, I don’t see how he could be a guy the Astros want. Ramirez has some trade value, and Figaro has zero, his numbers in the majors are not very good, and I can’t picture the Astros wanting him in a package. He also got lit up in a start against Houstom last year. I also feel like getting a guy of offensive calibur may be the direction the Tigers turn to, but:
1. Verlander
2. Porcello
3. Oswalt
4. Scherzer
5. Willis
That’s a sick rotation.
I would love to see the Tigers grab Oswalt but I don’t see where we have the pieces to get him. I think Detroit would have an easier time grabbing Carlos Lee for some offensive punch, though I personally wouldn’t like Detroit trading for him.
Dodgers. Please?
i can see him going to the yankees with how badly vasquez is struggling. their really the only team i can think of that would be willing to absorb that type of contract.
only problem is their farm system isn’t really that good outside of montero who i doubt they give up.
Wow.
1) With how well the rest of our rotation is pitching Vasquez is our #5 starter. You don’t plug a hole in your #5 spot by trading for an Oswalt.
2) Vasquez is gonna get better – he’s not this bad. His last start was quite encouraging.
3) Reports have said that we offered Montero straight up for Halladay last year. So you’re right, I doubt we’d trade him for Oswalt (Halladay >>> Oswalt)
4) Romine is a legit prospect, Corban Joeseph is intriguing, we’ve got some decent arms in Banuelos, Heredia, and McAllister. Plus Stoneburner’s been amazing. Our farm system isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.
Because Yankees were willing trade Montero for Halladay straight up, doesn’t mean that his value is actually that high.
lol “our”
Vazquez, after skipping a start to work on his mechanics, pitched well (7 IP, 2 ER, 7K) yesterday against the Tigers. It’s too early for the Yankees to give up on him and move him to the bullpen.
I don’t think they would trade Montero since they were reluctant to offer him for Roy Halladay.
Remember, part of that was that Montero would be going to a division rival. Hed be going to the NL. However, if I were the Astros, I wouldnt take Montero unless they felt he could handle 1b everyday…
sry double post
How many MLB quality players can’t handle 1B – especially ones that are as young as Montero? If Adam Dunn can “handle” it, Montero will easily as well. Question is whether he can continue as a catcher….
The Yankees are going to continue to develop Montero as a catcher. His defense has improved slightly lately over his early abysmal start at AAA. Right now, the organization has a lot invested in Montero to be Posada’s successor. His value to the Yankees is a lot higher than to what other teams view him as.
I feel it’s too early for the Yankees to trade for Oswalt and his attached salary. Why have so much money committed to three guys in CC, Burnett, and Oswalt (the latter too being injury-risks) over the next two and a half years?
Javy Vazquez may be turning a corner after his recent encouraging outing while the Yankees’ other four starters are rock solid. Even with the struggles of Vazquez, the team has posted a very good win record.
TBH…Francisco Cervelli has been doing a pretty good job in limited catching duties thus far. If the Yankees were to trade Montero (because there is no room for him), I’d much rather they get some young promising prospects in return.
The Yankees’ farm system isn’t as bad as people are making it to be. Seriously.
and its not as good as some yankee fans want to hype it up to be. seriously.
Eh, believe it or not, I hate the MFY’s.
“only problem is their farm system isn’t really that good outside of montero”
Well… no.
Hanson
Hudson
Oswalt
Jurrjens
Lowe
Would be sick but would never happen.
whats sicker is
carpenter
wainwright
oswalt
penny
garcia
likewise..will never happen.
Sicker than that?
Ubaldo Jimenez
Roy Oswalt
Jorge De La Rosa
Jhoulys Chacin
Jeff Francis
…
ok it’s not that sick.
Lincecum
Oswalt
Cain
Sanchez
Zito
Woo hoo.
the giants dont need more pitching they NEED hitting…plus the one guy they would have to move is bumgardner(sp?) and he is slipping out of everyones including the giants
or…KershawOswaltBillingsleyKurodaPadillabetter than the Rockies.. could actually happen
the dodgers wont becuase of the mccourts there is simply no money to take on that type of contract
yea, i know :/
Well, i just have to wait for the divorce to force them to sell the team…
who ever buys that team will find them selves a nice little gold mine…a top team with a solid young core…I dont get it…the teams makes a ton of money yet they dont have any money to invest on the team
If the Dodgers get an owner who is willing to spend money, they could have a VERY good team for a long time. The McCourts shouldnt be MLB owners. Selig BS’d the rules for a new owner to prevent Cuban or Broad from buying this team. They bought the team completely on credit. Then, instead of paying the loans back, they went on a shopping spree, owning 4 homes that are over 20M, and they own multiple more(for example, the judge recently ordered them to sell a home in Mexico that is valued at 7M that was a vacation home for them.) They stayed in debt and lived well beyond their means. Hell, they have their sons on the Dodger payroll even though one is still in college and one is a lawyer at a lawfirm. Jaime made over 2M a year and Im sure Frank made more… They kept their puppet at the GM spot instead of the much-more-accomplished Ng or Wallach. Ugh, I cant wait for them to sell this team…One more thing, during this divorce, Frank is staying at a Beverly Hills Hotel called the Montage and is paying.. are you ready? 30K a month, and that includes no meals. Hell, sometime last year, he spent 50K on clothes… in ONE MONTH. These people have no idea how to deal with money and are playing with the future of a very accomplished MLB franchise, and are on the brink of ruining this team..
The Dodgers could easily afford Oswalt. All they’d have to do is add an extra year and get Roy to agree to defer his salary over 20 years.
touche… that’s the only way haha
better than rockies? what are you smoking mr yankeesdodgerslakers everyone cant stop talking about how awful the dodgers rotation is and will likely be for the rest
That’s because ‘everyone’ has no idea what they are talking about. The Rockies have 3 guys in that rotation that are question marks to handle the whole season.. or be healthy at all.
The Dodgers have a young guy who struggles with control(kershaw), a pitcher who struggled with mechanics and has since put it together, a vet who has an ERA around 2.7 and never walks a hitter, a crazy Nicaraguan who needs to get healthy, and a rookie who has similar control to Kuroda…
“That’s because ‘everyone’ has no idea what they are talking about.”
qft
It doesn’t even look that great. Padilla, really?
Why bother?
Why did I put Padilla? Because Im not an idiot and realize Torre and Colletti will give him 10 starts when he comes back before admitting giving him 5M was a bad idea..
Also, I dont think Ely is THIS good…
wheres aaron cook?
durrrr how did I forget Cookie, of course Cookie
Ubaldo
Oswalt
Cookie
Chacin
DLR
well I think it’s good
awesome but cards dont have a farm system after the holliday trade
absolutely agree. but it won’t take a ton to get oswalt if the astros won’t eat a lot of salary. probably just 1 top 100 prospect+ 1 low level “intriguing” guy.
I think the only way the Braves would trade for Oswalt would be if the Astros took back Lowe. So it would be something like Lowe + a pack of prospects for Oswalt.
The whole reason in trading him is getting prospects and moving his salary not taking on more
You would take on Lowe’s salary in order to get more prospects back.
yeah but that would be foolish , Roy Oswalt if completely healthy can still fetch a good couple prospects it wont be like major ones but the only way i do that is if i get kris medlen,jordan schaffer as a starting point but i dont know alot about alanta’s farm
I wouldn’t say never in my opinion. Remember he said that he would accept a trade to the Braves. And with attendance slightly up this year the organization has to be making more money. But I would rather use the money to extend Escobar and Jurrjens. They both will need that soon. You never know though. We do tend to bring in players that want to play for us.
he says true contender but come on at dead line(when he will be moved) there are only one maybe two contenders in each league, and most of those true contenders have very little in their farm systems to be able to haul a teams ace… and you can bet he will more than likely be moved to the AL so they dont have to face him in the future…He says a true contender but i would bet if the whitesox are in it and need a pitching pick up He will go there if there is a deal considering he and jake peavy are very very good friends
They better not trade for him. He’s good, but we have everything there they just to get an offensive piece.
Sadly. I think there is actually a part of you that really believes what you wrote.
I don’t blame him one bit. He has been on a losing team for years now and his career is soon coming to an end with injuries
He should get on a winner as soon as he can or else it will be too late
Oswalt’s career is not going to be ended by injuries. This back thing he has is something you can pitch through and will get easier to deal with over time. However, he doesn’t plan to pitch past his contract, which could go through 2012.
Minnesota .. ?
if he was not so expensive i would say the rays
Garza
Price
Shields
Niemann
Davis
They also have Hellickson and Sonnastine in the wings. I guess you cant have enough pitching.
The one thing the Rays don’t have is a proven ace. All of their guys are #2/#3 type pitchers. Good pitchers, but not great ones. That can make it harder to succeed in the postseason. But the Rays don’t like to spend money, so it’s hard to see them trading for OSwalt.
Rays are stacked enough on pitching as it is.
What I would worry from the Rays is them making a run for Adrian Gonzalez…
lol, i knew i would get flamed for saying the yankees farm system isn’t very good. truth hurts sometimes.
Well, since they traded away Vizcaino, Kennedy, Dunn, and Austin Jackson, it hurt their farm a bit obviously. Still, they have a pretty good depth at catcher position. Romine, Sanchez, Murphy and someone they signed recently. I can’t remember the name. There are some intriguing pitching prospects in Brackman and Banuelos. Plus, their #1 pick from last year’s draft was Slade Heathcott. The name alone makes him awesome.
the astros need a lot of help. catching position isn’t one of areas. they already have their future catcher in castro.
Yes, point taken. I was just saying out that the Yankees have other legit prospects outside of Montero.
Mike Jacobs, Oliver Perez and Daniel Murphy for Roy Oswalt.
Make it happen Omar !
God himself could not make that trade happen. Two of those players have negative trade value.
Well I assume you are talking about Oswalt and Perez as having negative value.
I was throwing Mike Jacobs and Murphy in only because they have no future in the Mets organization and would probably benefit from a change of scenery.
I hope that was sarcasm.
🙂
Ok, here’s a scenario that might actually happen. How about some combo of Ruben Tejada, mejia, Fernando Martinez and maybe Daniel Murphy for Oswalt?
Ahaha no. Wilmer Flores and Brad Holt would get it done, though.
eww…i do not want to trade Flores unless we are talking about King Felix
or Verlander.
If Flores was a HS prospect right now he would go in the top 5 of the draft.
18 years old, 6’3 175, batting .330 in A ball right now.
to put it in perspective, Ike Davis hit .258 for Low A at age 21.
Flores IS the Mets next power-hitting corner OF. In 3 years, he will be 21,
probably in AAA and ready to take over RF ( right now he is playing SS )
Batting average means nothing in this sample size. But yes, Wilmer Flores is a good prospect. Roy Oswalt is an ace pitcher. To get an ace pitcher, you must give up good prospects. If you don’t want to give up any good prospects, go after Doug Davis or something.
there is no doubt Roy is an ace pitcher, if there wasnt such an injury risk there, I would be more inclined to do it, but with the mets, the last thing they need is another injury risk. Plus as I said before, the only way u make this move, is if it pushes u over the hump. The Mets have had situational hitting issues for the past 2 seasons that have essentially haunted them. No SP will help them get over that hurdle.
It appears they really need another lefty bopper in the lineup. Having Beltran back in the lineup would be more beneficial at this point than any SP. If having Beltran in the lineup puts them on the cusp of a good playoff run, then I can see the value of trading for Oswalt..( then I can also see Oswalt looking at the Mets like a true contender )…right now, the FO is too concerned with ticking off the face of the franchise and placing HoJo in another position aside from hitting instructor…and the mets will continue to struggle in these situations til that changes.
“there is no doubt Roy is an ace pitcher”
Doubt it.
u dont think roy is an ace pitcher?
he has looked pretty good to me this year so far. Put him on a decent team and he wins 18-20 games a year
What about the Angels? Trade Oswalt for Bobby Wilson (c), Terry Evans (of), Anthony Ortega (p), and Joe Saunders/Ervin Santana (p)
I’d welcome the rotation
Weaver
Oswalt
Saunders/Santana
Pineiro
Kazmir
Could I also add Berkman to the wish list? Angels need pitching and a bat
if anyone can take saunder off of our hands i would welcome it
Mets need to be all in for Oswalt. I’m thinking something revolving around F-Mart?
Wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to expand that deal to include Berkman in order to get Davis from the Mets. So something like Oswalt and Berkman for F-Mart, Davis, and others.
no way they trade Davis at this point.
Halladay
Hamels
Oswalt
Happ
Blanton
That would be as mutilating to you as it would to the teams facing that rotation. Another heavily paid thirty-something is the last thing you guys need. Especially since you would have to trade away more prospects. And it’s not just you, it’s the Yankees too whom I’m sure will be thrown into this. He needs to go to a team with a heavy farm system that needs veteran leadership at the top of it’s rotation and you guys have some dude called Halladay doing that at the moment. See what I’m saying?
There’s no way the Mets should consider parting with both Ike Davis and F-Mart to get Oswalt. I personally believe Davis is untouchable at this point. Would they really trade their 1st baseman for the next 5+ years for a solid, yet aging veteran? I know Omar is on the verge of losing his job, so there’s a bit of a principal-agent problem that could lead to such a trade, however, I still think it’s too much and Omar hopefully realizes it.
Is there really any question that he’s going to end up on the Yankees?
SantanaOswaltPelfreyNieseMaineGoddamnit…he said contender didn’t he?
As much as I’d hate to say it, the Phillies need him.
As an Astros fan, I love Oswalt, but would love to see the team rebuild for the future. They are in a bad position with aging veterans and a few young players. However, I predict that no trade will happen. This is why. All the other teams look at the $16M salary and say that if they take on that contract, then they won’t give up any talent. However, I don’t think that Drayton McClane would trade Oswalt or Berkman strictly for salary relief. The fans would not mind a trade, but for PR purposes, there needs to be a return. So, unless a team is willing to take on most of the salary and also give up a good young talent, then I don’t see a trade happening. Also, judging from the Santana, Cliff Lee, and other recent trades, I just don’t see teams giving up anything that good (i.e. a can’t miss prospect). In other words, I don’t see a Becket for Ramerez deal out there. That said, Oswalt is a complete stud. Judging from the comments above, he seems very underrated. Dude has a good year every single season except last year when he was injured. He is 4-0 in the playoffs. The bigger the game, the better Oswalt plays. In 2005 he made Pujols look stupid in game 6 as he struck him out and Pujols fell over. His FB was 98 in the late innings. He can crank it up when he wants. Give this guy a little more motivation and he will be sick.
Could you imagine: Oswalt, Young (once healthy), garland, and a mixture of Leblanc/richard/latos for the final two spots? Now that would be sick. Although it has a worst chance of happening then any of the other spots.
you all know ed wade, who is running philly south, wants the rest of the prospects that he developed while with the real philly.
halladay
oswalt
hamels
blanton
moyer/happ
Dodgers NEED this guy!
Oswalt for Houston native Loney, plus pitching prospect Ely.
That enough?