Roy Oswalt would consider waiving his no-trade clause to play for the Nationals, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Oswalt explained that the team's offense and the upcoming promotion of Stephen Strasburg make the Nats appealing. The 26-26 Nationals began the day in a three-way tie for third in the NL East.
Since Oswalt has $29MM remaining on his contract and the Astros are not obliged to deal him, there's no guarantee he is actually traded. Oswalt says he would play "anywhere" he can contend, but has as many questions about his future as everybody else.
"I don't know who's interested," he said. "They haven't really approached me about anybody yet."
Last week, one official told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that the Nationals may be the one team that could afford to take on Oswalt's salary.
Drew Storen for Oswalt? If I was Houston, I’d take that.. Drayton loves them bullpen arms after all.
You know that’s actually a tough call… If Wade just had a head injury.
Hahaha, no. Sorry.
Hmm, an unproven bullpen arm for a proven ace. Ed Wade likes relievers, but even he’s not that insane.
If this is true, congratulations to the Nats! The turn-around they are doing this season is quite impressive, and apparently Mr. Oswalt thinks so too!
Awesome turnaround considering how badly MLB wrecked the Expos before moving them. This team could have Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Orlando Cabrera and (yikes) Milton Bradley on the roster.
You also mean how badly Omar Minaya wrecked them.
Sure, but Minaya was largely doing the bidding of the other owners. It was so nice when Selig wouldn’t allow the Expos roster to expand in September while they were only a few games out in the division. It was going to cost the league money.
The Expos were my organization. They drafted well…developed well…then the 94 strike….MLB obviously wanted to get them out of Canada. Running a team up there is more expensive. I’m guesing they’re not crazy about the Blue Jays now.
Sure, but Minaya was largely doing the bidding of the other owners. It was so nice when Selig wouldn’t allow the Expos roster to expand in September while they were only a few games out in the division. It was going to cost the league money.
The Expos were my organization. They drafted well…developed well…then the 94 strike….MLB obviously wanted to get them out of Canada. Running a team up there is more expensive. I’m guesing they’re not crazy about the Blue Jays now.
would be a great situation for strasburg who wouldn’t have to jump right into the fire and lead the pitching rotation.
just think of a rotation of
oswalt
wang
strasburg
lannan
zimmermann
thats 3 potential aces at the top.
What ends up happening to Jason Marquis?
DFA’d? waterboy? mascot?
Haha i like the waterboy idea.
Solid rotation, but Wang has never been and never will be an “ace”.
actually he has been, he finished second in cy young voting a few years back. just because he doesn’t pile up strikeouts like the other guys doesn’t mean he isn’t an ace.
I guess we have different definitions of “ace”. Wang won 18 twice simply because he pitched for the Yankees. He ranked 11th and 14th in terms of WAR that year, so maybe borderline ace, but that was 2006-2007. Pretty big leap of faith to think he can be that guy again.
I think it was 19 twice, not 18.
His sinker was one of the best in the league, man! I miss watching that guy pitch!
Even in his best seasons, he was just a little above average, not an ace. He’s never had an xFIP above 4.16 in a season.
Rizzo would never include Storen in a trade for Oswalt, or anyone. He and Strasburg are the closer and ace of the future. More likely some minor/major league arms like JD Martin, Ross Detweiler, Craig Stammen, Shairon Martis, etc. Storen is a drafted star, the Nats will keep him around. He’s a fan favorite too. Oswalt is not part of the Nats’ future, he would be great for 1-3 years though.
That’s not enough of a package either. It would take one of the two top middle infielders to get something done (Desmond or Espinosa). Something along the lines of Danny Espinosa, Chris Marrero, and Bradley Meyers is the kind of package you can expect to give up for Oswalt.
Chris Marrero is the 1B of the future also. I don’t see them trading him at all.
Actually if they extend Dunn, Marrero can become expandable.
Actually if they extend Dunn, Marrero can become expandable.
I think Storen has a bright future ahead of him but can we refrain from “drafted star” and “fan favorite” until the kid logs 10 big league innings. No one was snatching up tickets to Drew Storen’s big league debut a couple of weeks ago nor have I seen too many #58 jerseys running around Nat town. If you could turn a middle reliever into a top of the rotation starter you’d pull the trigger every time.
Now, this rumor is exciting!
as a Nats fan it is very exciting to be included in these trade rumors.
But Oswalt is owed $29+ million, that will REDUCE the prospect haul Houston would typically receive for his services, unless the Astros agree to eat some of his salary to INCREASE his value further. The Houston owner has already been quoted in a couple articles (I remember reading it somewhere) that he is not interested in eating any of Oswalt’s salary.
This means he won’t get offered a large package of prospects, or high value prospects… because the $$ amount of Oswalt’s contract has VALUE also.
My guess is Houston’s owner will refuse to eat salary, and he will still want/expect the lion’s share of prospects from someone- which means:
Oswalt will stay in Houston.
Wow. If the Nats get Oswalt then the NL East will really be tough. Around the deadline they will be getting Marquis, Zimmerman, and Wang back. Thats a heck of a rotation right there and their offense isn’t to shabby with Zimmerman, Dunn, and Willingham in the middle of the lineup.
Im a Braves fan and im just excited about the great competition that will be in the NL East for years to come.
I realize that this is a comment section about the Nats mainly, but I was wondering what others thought of a potential trade with the Reds. It has been brought up on here in the past that the Reds might be contenders.
What do others think about the Reds offering Aaron Harang, who contract is up at the end of this year, along with First base prospect Yonder Alonso and potentially two other minor leaguers for Oswalt. The way I look at it is the Astros get salary relief both this year, with the minor pay differences between Harang and Oswalt, as well as next year when they can release Harang if they do not want him. This would also give the Astros a first basemen of the future, allowing them to also offer up Berkman next year if they wish, while allowing the Reds to acquire someone for Alonso who doesnt seem to fit any of the Reds needs anytime soon.
The Reds have a fairly good pitching staff currently but lack a true ace and someone who is a team leader in the pitching rotation. Oswalt I assume would be happy, he stays in a division he is used to, get to face his own god awful team, and ends up with a ballclub that seems to have a real shot this year, unlike the Nationals who look drastically improved but still don’t look much better than the .500 team that they are.