10:35pm: The Cardinals made a bid approaching $5MM on Oswalt weeks ago but that deal is not likely to happen, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Strauss predicts that the Rangers will win the bidding on Oswalt with $2-3MM more and other perks.
9:36pm: Some executives believe that the Rangers are the favorites to land Oswalt, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Other interested clubs include the Cardinals, Red Sox, Nationals, Indians, and Brewers.
Even after acquiring Gio Gonzalez, Rosenthal writes that the Nats value Oswalt's veteran presence and makeup. The Indians are in the mix as they face the possible loss of the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona. Milwaukee would only sign Oswalt at the right price.
The big question with the 34-year-old is whether he'll continue playing if neither the Cardinals nor Rangers want him. One friend of the pitcher says that he again mentioned retirement as an option, though two sources close to Oswalt insist that he will pitch in 2012 and perhaps even sign a two-year deal. Sources also say that the right-hander turned down a strong offer from the Tigers.
4:35pm: There's mutual interest between the Rangers and Oswalt, but for him to be a fit, it'd have to be on Texas' terms, Heyman tweets.
1:33pm: The Red Sox made Oswalt an offer, but are unsure of his interest level, since he has yet to accept, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
8:13am: Now that Prince Fielder has agreed to terms with the Tigers, Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt are the top unsigned free agents. It wouldn’t surprise many if Oswalt, who now seeks a one-year deal, signs in Boston, but two general managers think he wants to join the Rangers and another says he’d like to sign in St. Louis, tweets Peter Gammons of MLB Network.
Oswalt would like to join Mike Maddux and Nolan Ryan with the Rangers, Gammons reports. However, both of last year’s World Series teams enter the 2012 season will rotations that appear to be full.
Though Oswalt had two back-related stints on the disabled list in 2011, he finished the season with six strong September starts and a season ERA of 3.69 with 6.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. The 34-year-old Bob Garber client made 23 starts and completed 139 innings this past season, posting a 3.69 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 45.1% ground ball rate overall. His average fastball velocity dropped to 91.4 mph, however. Oswalt was a Type A free agent, but the Phillies declined to offer him arbitration and he won't cost a draft pick.
At a one-year deal, it may be risky, and I believe that his contract may include some incentives, but if he stays healthy, Roy Oswalt would be very effective.
“At a one-year deal, it may be risky”
I agree that there is risk, but the one-year duration of the deal does not make it risky unless it is an ungodly amount of money.
You really can’t get much less risk than a one year deal aside from a minor league contract which Oswalt will not agree to.
At this point I’m figuring part of the issue with Oswalt is location. If he turned down the Tigers then my guess is he isn’t too high on moving to the AL to re-establish himself. The only reason the Rangers makes more sense than other AL teams is because he’s from around that area.
This probably also means the only reason he hasn’t outright said no to the Red Sox is they’re one of the few teams still interested.
I’ve been commenting for a while now that he’s got to be working off a list of teams he is willing to play for. At 1 year / $8 million (last I’ve seen for what he wants), I can’t imagine he’d remain unsigned this long if he was open to playing more places.
I guess its a race now to see if one of his preferred teams can clear room for him, or if he’ll just take the money out there and play for someone else.
Yeah, with his background he should have gotten several such offers by now. But I remember back to the first time Oswalt was even rumored to being on the trade market, this was years ago, he responded that he’d play out his career in Houston or retire. Obviously no longer true but he stayed in a relative comfort zone when accepting a trade to the Phils: close to the midwest and still in the NL.
My guess is, in some order of importance, he wants to: stay closer to home/family, play in the NL, and possibly for a shot at a ring.
Not sure I would really describe Philly as in his comfort zone via proximity to the midwest. Given that, what wouldn’t count as in his comfort zone? San Diego, LA, Oak, SF, and TO? (even though TO is kind of midwesty).
It isn’t about proximity to the midwest. If it were, Oswalt wouldn’t have rejected Detroit since Michigan is in the midwest(I think a lot of the people who talk about “midwest” don’t know what it actually is).
It’s about proximity to Mississippi, which is in the Southeast. However, Missouri is in the midwest and other than Atlanta it’s the closest MLB city to Mississippi.
Philadelphia isn’t nearly as close, but it is twice as close to MS as any west coast city.
Are the mets interested at all. I think this would be a good sign for the mets. Its a one year deal. Oswalt will play hard and thru pain because he wants another contract after 2012. Citifield is perfect to put up some numbers.
Roy Oswalt costs money, something the Mets don’t have.
They still have money to spend. Still under the projected payroll.. If they wwere gonna spend 15-17m on reyes then theres still some around.. hed be perfect for the mets. for him and the team. and if they need to they can trade him at the deadline and save few million and get something back for him.
“If they were gonna spend 15-17m on Reyes.”
What??? Where is the evidence that they were going to pay him that. As far as I heard they didn’t even make an offer. The Mets were never going to re-sign Reyes! They kept him to squeeze as much ticket sales out of him.
I think this would be a good sign for the mets.
Why go after Oswalt-and-his-back-problems for 8-10M that the Mets don’t
have, when they can pursue a minors contract with Chris-Young-and-his-shoulder-problems for “pennies on the dollar”?!
Considering both these guys are liable to break down and end up on the DL, it “pays” for the Mets to go the cheap route. Fortunately they’ve had lots of practice lately…
If Oswalt doesn’t sign with the Red Sox, that’s a blow to the Sox front office. They cleared payroll just to get him (basically). It cost us a worthy player. And there’s no other free agents out there at this moment that can sign under the same conditions the Sox need. If Oswalt does sign with the Rangers, possibly the Rangers could unload a starter to Boston for something in return, but it’s not likely by any means.
I’m sure that the Cardinals would happily unload a starter on the Red Sox (Westbrook), but I doubt that Boston would be too happy with that trade. The Cardinals wouldn’t even as for “something in return”…
Hard to deal with Texas.. Remember? this was the team that thought Salty was worth Clay Bucholz…
Yeah, like I said, it’s probably more of a Sox lost then gain, but at least we have some room to buy stuff. I personally don’t find only about 6 million dollars much worth towards anything though.
Personally, he’d fit with the Sox much better. He’s injury prone, but he’s in the same boat as the other 4/5 starters we yet to know about. On the other hand, Texas already has a set rotation.
Texas and Boston have actually been very good trade partners. Texas basically gave Kason Gabbard back to Boston for nothing when he didn’t work out here (got him with Murphy for Gagne) and then when Salty was given up on here, sent to you guys for a couple of minor leaguers of which one looks like he may make it as a middle reliever. At the time that the Salty for Bucholz deal was going on, Salty was seen as the next Pudge and Bucholz was just a prospect. And Texas loves its catcher. Look at how the fan base embraced Pudge in all his years here and Napoli this past year. It was thought that that is what Salty would become. Love seeing Salty in a place he is comfortable again.
The Rangers got a prospect who is now a top 10 pitcher in our system in the Salty deal haha
I would love to see him sign in Texas. Our rotation may be full, but after Lewis, Holland, Harrison, no other “starter” has a stellar track record that would make him a lock. Sure, we just signed Darvish, but he hasn’t shown anything at our level yet. Feliz hasn’t shown that he is ready for starting yet. Ogando is most likely going to be the setup guy. Why not take the chance on a proven front line starter?
yeah, you could move darvish to the bullpen.
Assuming you’re joking, but it’s hard to tell on the internet.
Westbrook and Lohse aren’t waiving their no-trade clauses, so unless the Cardinals are prepared to pay either $8M or $12M for one of them to pitch in the bullpen, this isn’t happening.
Still, I think Oswalt’s personality would blend in perfectly with Carpenter, Berkman, Holliday, and Wainwright.
For Lohse, if he is put in the bullpen and told he will play there the entire season, he waives his no trade clause immediately. He’s in a contract year, and will be looking for a payout. Pitching out of the bullpen will kill his next contract.
That being said, he’s better than Westbrook, so I’d rather have him in the starting rotation. Westbrook isn’t going to get any decent offers next year regardless, and isn’t hurt by moving to the bullpen. I doubt he waives his no-trade clause unless he feels like it. Even if he did, I think the Cardinals have to pay him anyway.
Except that I don’t see the Cards paying Westbrook $8M to pitch in the bullpen.
They’d have to pay him $8 million to trade him to someone else, too. There is no difference between $8 million to pitch in the pen, $8 million with an unconditional release, or $8 million and trade to another team. Regardless, they have to pay Westbrook. It is sunk cost. If adding Oswalt makes sense, where Westbrook plays isn’t the concern. The Cardinals are paying him regardless.
That being said, I don’t think they have the money.
Jred1979,
I am about the only one that understands your assessment on Westbrook being a sunk cost. Of course you have to pay him, but that doesn’t mean he ABSOLUTELY has to be in the rotation. Personally, I think Westbrook is worth much more than 8 million to keep off the field and as far away from the team as possible haha
I do realize they have to pay Westbrook regardless. My point is that DeWitt isn’t going to pay the guy like that so he can pitch in the bullpen. Why go out and get Oswalt and pay HIM $8M too? It makes no sense.
I don’t think DeWitt would have a problem with paying Westbrook to pitch out of the pen. I mean, last year, we had Carp, Garcia, Lohse, Westbrook and K-Mac until the AS break then we got Jackson. As soon as the playoffs rolled around, Westbrook was out as No. 4 and Jackson was in with Westbrook in the pen. Westbrook, and the rest of the Cards clearly know that he is the weakest link when it comes to the rotation and he has trouble going 5 innings as it is. A nice 1.2-2.1 innings would be great out of Westbrook.
“Why go out and get Oswalt and pay HIM $8M too? It makes no sense.”
Because Oswalt is worlds better than Westbrook.
I don’t know. The Cardinals have said they will maintain the $110MM payroll. Oswalt is the only guy that makes any sense to get them there. Unless they have another trade up their sleeve, I wouldn’t be that surprised to see Westbrook moved to the bullpen.
Mozeliak asserted that the team’s payroll is assured to be more than $110 million despite Pujols’ absence. That figure represented something of a limit last season but, according to Mozeliak, the club remains in the market for a veteran reliever — likely righthanded — to enhance a talented but young bullpen. Mozeliak downplayed the possibility of landing another starting pitcher such as free agent Roy Oswalt, whose asking term has dropped to one year.
Mo from the winter warm up.
i think given oswalts preference for stl the cards can make this happen. you sign oswalt for 2 years the first being say 4 mill but the 2nd being like 12 if he reaches incentives. that way you dont spend a ton now and next year lohse and westbrook are off the books. plus theres the possibility that westbrook DOES waive his clause when he realizes he’s our 6th pitcher. pleaze mo…READ THIS.
It appears the Rangers are up to something. Possibly trying to trade Uehara to sign Oswalt. That means Harrison would probably go to the pen.
I agree with this statement. I think thats all that needs to happen for the Rangers to lock up Oswalt. He’d be a solid veteran presence in that rotation and they would look a whole lot scarier.
Behind CJ, Harrison was our second best pitcher last year. If anything he’ll be packaged for a front of the line starter or a 1B
Another thing: I question whether the Cards have much remaining in their budget for the $7-$8M Oswalt is reportedly seeking. By my calculations, they’re nearing the $110M limit set by DeWitt following the Pujols thing.
1 Darvish
2 Lewis
3 Oswalt
4 Holland
5 Feliz, Harrison, Feldman,
If Oswalt is willing to accept a relief role, the Rangers could sign him. He could even get a rotation shot and allow the Rangers to package guys like Harrison and Uehara in trades.
Or trade Lowe and Uehara and resign mike Gonzalez
We already have too many starting pitchers, but I’d really like to see Gonzalez back.
I would totally be cool with him coming to STL but unfortunately I don’t see that happening until next year, that is, if he only gets a 1 year deal but perhaps that would be why he takes a 1 year deal elsewhere so that next year he can have a better chance of signing here for more than 1. It’s so weird how thinking about former “Cardinals killers” being on the team because before Berkman came over last offseason I would never have even liked the possibility of him playing for the Cards but then I got to thinking and then the season happened and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. now we have Beltran and a potential to sign Oswalt in the near future all of which have plagued Cards pitchers, and hitters in Oswalt’s case, in the past and now have the chance for putting their abilities to use for us now or in the future. it’s not very often that you have so many rival players go to or think about going to their rival team but that’s the difference between the Astros and the Cards or the Mets and the Cards or the Phillies and the Cards or even the Cubs and the Cards, is that the Cardinals are a championship team, so are the phillies but only one championship compared to two in the last 5 years, but that’s the difference between the Cards and all the other teams with the exception of the Red Sox who are the only other team to have won 2 championships in the 21st century the Cards put the chances for a championship on the table almost every year and have done so for a good percentage of their history unlike most other teams. When you have a guy like Oswalt who has made it public that he wants to play in Saint Louis, that shows you how great of a team we have to make rival players want to play here. that shows the greatness in the team, the richness of its history and tradition and all that. it shows how great the fans are that you would want to play for them after having helped beat them for so many years previous and all that being done with a team that is not a super-high budget team, that you don’t really necessarily expect them to pay you a yankee size contract and that says a lot about the player as well.
Holy long post, Batman!
Holy long post, Batman!
Holy double post, Batman!
Roy Oswalt should retire so he doesn’t wreck his body.
In a perfect world, I would like to see the Cardinals sign Roy Oswalt to a one year deal. Then I would move Jake Westbrook to the bullpen. Next I would trade Kyle McClellan for a prospect(s) and put Westbrook in K-Mac’s role. While this scenario is very unlikely, I think it could work if Mo considered it.
Best move by Oswalt would be to sign with Boston for 1 year at a reasonable salary. If he can pitch decently in the AL east, contribute to a play-off finish and not suffer back issues, that will remove any doubts about him. Then he can command what ever he feels he’s worth come the 2013 season. Going anywhere else will always leave lingering questions one way or another.
Oswalt will have chronic back issues the rest of his life.
dude seriously we get it…you both have bad backs.
Yes, and only one of us is a risk to a mlb team right now.
Best move by Oswalt is not to sign with Boston. If he choose Boston he will end up sooner like John Smoltz as a base ball analyst. If he still wants to play three or more years, better he choose some NL teams.
That can be said for all pitchers not named pedro martinez, sabathia, clemens etc.. When they were at the top of their game.
Anyone just about could go to the NL and do better.
I’m happy Ben Cherington is making an effort, worse comes to worse we sign Webb, Jackson, or Livan Hernandez
If Oswalt is waiting on the Rangers to get back from the Dominican Republic…
If the Rangers can trade off Feldman, they’d use Oswalt instead of Harrison I’m assuming. Harrison would be a middle reliever. I’d like to see him in the rotation: Lewis/Oswalt/Holland/Darvish/Feliz
Harrison was our second best starter last year! I really wish people would stop suggesting he should be in the bullpen. He deserves to start.
Hahaha NO. The only options I see here for Oswalt to sign is:
1.) Lewis, Darvish, Oswalt Holland, and Harrison with Feliz back in the closer spot and Feldman being traded (Koji too if Texas wants Gonzalez)
2.)Lewis, Darvish, Holland, Harrison and Feliz with Oswalt in the long reliever spot and Feldman being traded (Koji too if Texas wants Gonzalez)
Doubt Texas wants to do the first option since they want to see what Feliz has, and I doubt Oswalt agrees with option two unless we really loves Texas enough to move out of a starter role (which I doubt with a guy who has had such great success for a long term as a starter would agree to do).
So he’s not interested in Boston or Detroit. Two teams built to win. Does he want to play baseball at all?
In fairness, the two teams he’s considering, STL and TEX, are also both built to win. I think they may have even met in a world series recently–and since then, both of them have added top of the line pitchers, in Wainwright and Darvish.
In fact, given the competitiveness of their relative divisions and leagues, an argument could be made that the Cardinals are in a better position than either BOS, DET or TEX.
I am sure Duquette is working OT to get something done here.
Either
1.) Sign Oswalt out from under the Rangers or Red Sox.
2.) Make a trade with the Rangers and get back Uehara and Feldman so that the Rangers free up 9.75 millions dollars of salary, so they can sign Oswalt.
Duquette is a “True” Genius can’t wait to see what happens next!
The thing is Uehara and Feldman have value…TEX isnt just going to give them to Duquette…I guess JD is smarter than you AND Duquette 😛
Now’s the time for Oswalt to choose between money and a genuine shot at a World Series.
I thinks if Oswalt wanted to pitch for the Sox he would have signed by now. What these young GM’s don’t realize is that free agents who have put in time have other exspectations other than money. It’s a hard concept to deal with. Cashman was the first GM to understand this with Cliff Lee.
I’m sure they understand it. That doesn’t mean they should try to persuade the veteran anyways.
Oswalt does want the Sox. Wants to be closer to his St. Louis home. I get a kick out of these comments by players. Clemens wanted to be closer to his Texas home when he played for the Sox, so he signed with Toronto. Huh? Unless a player plays in or within a short driving distance of his hometown, 300 miles is no closer than 3000 miles.
Oswalt wants to pitch well on a one year deal, so that he can sign a much better deal after this season and continue to pitch. He does not want the Sox. Fenway is a terrible place to go if you’re trying to put up great pitching stats to get a new contract. Why would he want to face the Yankees and Rays, and pitch in a hitter-friendly park?
I think he’d prefer to stay in the National League, but at least Texas offers him a chance to work with Nolan Ryan and the Maddux brothers, not to mention four or five starts each against the Mariners and A’s.
Does “it has to be on their terms” really need to be said? When has a team ever said, “We’ll pay whatever you want…$29 million, no problem,”?
Uehara to Red Sox. Oswalt to Texas.
Lester
Beckett
Buchholz
Jackson
Bard
Aceves
Mortensen
Atchison
Melancon
Uehara
Bailey
I’d be pretty happy with this.
Uehara will go back to the O’s. Maybe Feldman to Red Sox. Oswalt to the Rangers.
Uehara will go back to the O’s. Maybe Feldman to Red Sox. Oswalt to the Rangers.
Uehara to Red Sox. Oswalt to Texas.
Lester
Beckett
Buchholz
Jackson
Bard
Aceves
Mortensen
Atchison
Melancon
Uehara
Bailey
I’d be pretty happy with this.
Moving Harrison to the pen after a 4.2 WAR season would be ridiculous. Its not like Ogando who is almost guaranteed to be a great setup man and doesn’t really have the pitch repertoire to start long term….. Harrison may not be great but hes best suited as a starter and he should be given the chance after a good season.
If the Rangers are going to sign Oswalt, I expect there to be a significant trade going down so that Oswalt makes sense.
There will be a trade, how significant remains to be seen. Uehara will be traded, most likely back to the O’s. Feldman is probably gone, because I dont think there’s a lot of love between him and the Rangers. Oswalt wants to go to Texas and be with the Maddox brothers and Ryan. Harrison or Feliz will end up back in the pen.
I disagree. Harrison will stay in the rotation. He deserves it anyway.
Why are the Brewers named in this? I don’t believe that for a second.
I wish my Mets could sign Oswalt but we are broke
Brewers?!
Oswalt would get eaten alive in the American League East.
Nats could use Oswalt to show Strasburg and Zimmermann how to be RHP power pitchers for long haul.
Karma gods to the rescure… Oswalt spurns Detroit as beneath him to sign with the Rangers… he will lose ALCS game 7 to them!
Just because your team signed prince fielder dosnt mean you punched your ticket to the ALCS.. Your team still has back end rotation problems and muggy might not work out at 3rd base. Yes, your tigers can compete but to put them ahead of the rangers rediculous lineup and young pitching staff? I wouldn’t go that far.. You have a chance but the rangers are still American League Champions until someone Else holds up the AL trophy.
Pretty sure he meant that tongue-in-cheek as opposed to claiming we are guaranteed to make the world series.
I think we all remember this tone when the Tigers traded for Cabrera and D-Train, and signed Renteria. It was a “lock” for them to win it all. Wonder what happened?
(delete, double post)
The 2 teams are not even comparable. The ’08 team relied too much on old/washed up veterans like Renteria, Sheffield, Guillen, Pudge, Kenny Rogers, and Magglio. The staff was a major question mark with Dontrelle and his ever-declining statistics, Rogers was old, Robertson was trash, and Verlander had his worst season in the majors.
This years team has a strong young core of Miggy, Verlander, Fielder, Avila, Fister, Scherzer, Ajax, Porcello, Boesch, and if you want, you can include Peralta in that mix. The bullpen is strong, the lineup is fantastic, the rotation is solid, but the defense is trash. This team may not win the world series, but it won’t be an utter flop like ’08. I promise you that.
This team has what the 2008 team didn’t: PITCHING.
If anyone brings up ’08 Verlander, I will shank them with my pen.
The Rangers will not sign Oswalt. We do not need him.
Based on everything written above, and if the mention of retirement came up again, it’s seems pretty unlikely that he would sign with the Sox. People were making the comparison that they were showing interest in Jackson in order to smoke Oswalt out. Anyone ever think it was the other way around and that Oswalt has been using the Red Sox as his leverage this whole time?
Somebody should definitely start a band and name it “The Pitcher Formerly Known as Fausto Carmona.”
Roy Oswalt like Kevin Millwood can help Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, and either Charlie Furbush or Blake Beaven give some veteran leadership on the Mariners pitching staff by signing a one year contract and trade Beaven or Furbush and couple pitching prospects for a hitter like Mark Reynolds of Baltimore Orioles if Jack Z and Dan Duqette can pull off a trade between those two teams to stay in the division race w/ the Los Angeles Angeles and Texas Rangers this season.
Oswalt probably wonders what’s the point in choosing the Cards over the Rangers when without Pujols, the Rangers are the ones more likely to be back in the World Series this season.
Your absoulty right how will the cards EVER win again without the guy who hit into a new league record for double plays and who had a .240 batting average in the world series….if anything with the addition the angels, tigers, and yankees you guys are less likely to go back then us
“you guys” “us” lol
I don’t see why Texas would want Oswalt with all the arms they currently have. They need a bat if anything.
Are you serious?
Tigers, Yankees, Rangers, and Angels in this year’s AL Playoffs
Fausto Car-no-more
It seems like none of these guys want to play for the Red Sox. They make offers to these players and it’s like the players have left Beantown at the alter. The only players the Red Sox seem to be able to sign/attract are the ones that have no control over their own destiny like Bailey or platoon players like Ross. Oh how the mighty have fallen after missing the postseason 2 years in a row.
Who besides Oswalt are you referring to?
Oh really original and awesome that you’ve said this in multiple threads..
Cardinals