Roy Oswalt rumors

[Willie Bee]

Was talking about this with Amby on Monday in chat. Everyone really needs to be aware of the source for any rumors we're going to start hearing about players who will be dealt by the deadline. In the case of the Houston Chronicle, I like to call them Houston's leading misinformation source, bit of a paraphrasing of one of their old ad campaigns.

Personally, I think the odds are VERY long that Roy O will be traded. I would say it would take an incredibly loaded offer that included not only a solid prospect or two, but also someone that was ready to pitch right now. But since Ed Wade is the GM, I won't say that and assume any logic or value behind a trade he might conjure up.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090601&content_id=5092122&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws

CHICAGO -- According to a Sunday blog post on the Houston Chronicle Web site, Roy Oswalt would use his no-trade veto power to block a trade to the White Sox.

That piece of news didn't seem to faze Ken Williams when relayed to him during a chat with the media prior to Monday's series opener with the A's, as the general manager readily admitted he was not in any sort of pursuit of the Houston ace.

"You want me to respond to something we haven't made an overture towards?" said Williams with a smile. "[Oswalt] probably hasn't been asked the question, and someone has written or talked about it as though it were something that was imminent or a reality. And it's not."

In actuality, the news from the Chronicle was conveyed via a blog and not published as a newspaper article because the writer had been assured by a National League official that the White Sox and Astros were not in trade talks. Williams broke from his usual code of silence to confirm that piece of news on Monday.

[Chi_archie]

Kenny Williams, the sox GM, denies that they were trying to get oswalt... he thinks the source of the rumors began because there were white sox scouts at an astro game where roy pitched... but it was just part of their regular scouting rounds....


I think they prob did pursue him, and they are trying to soften the blow of people knowing that 2 straight pitchers have now said "no way jose" to pitching in the cell.....

[AMBlai01]

Willie, you would know better than anyone around here. If the 'Stros could actually get a deal done with a team, do you think there is any team that Oswalt would actually lift his no trade clause for?

[Willie Bee]

I think they prob did pursue him, and they are trying to soften the blow of people knowing that 2 straight pitchers have now said "no way jose" to pitching in the cell...

Could be, at least a very plausible theory based on how we know all GMs and baseball execs speak with forked tongue. I still think it's the Chronicle lloking to spike their internet traffic. If it was true, or they at least had more evidence that discussions took place, you would think they would have also run it in their print edition at some point.

Willie, you would know better than anyone around here. If the 'Stros could actually get a deal done with a team, do you think there is any team that Oswalt would actually lift his no trade clause for?

Sure, there might be some scenario, but I'm thinking to lift it would mean the receiving team has to up something on his current contract. I just feel that Roy is ver comfortable where he's at. Current contract calls for an option year in 2012 ($2 million buyout or $16 million in salary to keep him). Not even sure he wants to continue pitching past 2012.

[AMBlai01]

No pitching past 2012? He is only 31...he may not be able to pitch for another 7 years after 2012 but I would think at least collect a pay check for 3 more years.......

[Willie Bee]

You may be right, Amby, in fact you probably are. Will definitely depend what's going on with the Astros or whoever he might eventually land with. No doubt if pitching two more seasons or so for a team that has a really, really good shot at a World Series will affect his decision. But I don't see Roy simply hanging on to keep drawing a paycheck. Dude has earned about $50 million already in his career, not counting the big bulldozer that McLane gave him as a bonus when he pitched and won Game 6 of the '05 NLCS to put Houston in the Series. All he wants to do after baseball is farm and ranch and drive his bulldozer, believe he would be perfectly content in some ways to just walk away today with what he's put in his pocket already.

[AMBlai01]

Good Ole Country Boy...I like it.

[Willie Bee]

Here's a piece I've been able to dig up on Oswalt and the notion he won't just keep pitching, plus a photo of his bulldozer and one of the bobblehead giveaway they had in 2007, I think

The entire piece by Buster Olney is pretty good, but only pasting a portion of it here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3673258

There's no way the driver just said what you think he said. Maybe you didn't hear right. Mississippi pine trees are flashing by at 60 mph, you feel like you're on a roller coaster on two paved lanes and you're white-knuckling the door handle. Maybe your senses are just overloaded. You ask from the backseat: Say again? "Ten years," Roy Oswalt says, again. He glances into the rearview mirror.

"My goal is to play 10 years, and then I'll figure out what to do after that." You try to block out the onrushing trees and do the math. The Astros righthander is five years into his career, he's 28 and he's talking about the possibility of walking away from baseball at age 33. This isn't quite Sandy Koufax forecasting early retirement. Not yet, anyway. Oswalt has racked up back-to-back 20-win seasons, and his career winning percentage is .680. He propelled himself into the national consciousness last fall by blowing away the Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS.

"Millions of viewers might have learned who Roy Oswalt was that night," says catcher Brad Ausmus, "but there's not a guy in the National League who didn't know how good he was before that." A guy this good talking about walking away in five years? When he might be making $15 million a year on the foundation of a Hall of Fame career? C'mon. Oswalt's eyes are back on the road, looking past the cracked windshield of his SUV. "Some people play for a chance to get into the Hall of Fame," he says flatly. "I'm playing for the competition of it."

You might have been tempted to dismiss his words, but you've already spent half a winter morning loitering in Oswalt's hometown of Weir, population 500 or so. It's pronounced where, which is ironic; 156 miles south of Memphis, 259 miles north of Gulfport, Weir is in the middle of nowhere. There is no pretension here, no social climbing. Not enough people for that.

Oswalt drives. You're along for the ride, and you're wondering: Five more years?

He shows you the house on the hill, the place he and wife Nicole built within a few miles of where they grew up, where they're raising their 1-year-old daughter, Arlee Faith. You're four hours from the Gulf Coast and trees are down all over because of Hurricane Katrina; at the foot of the curling slope, the mud is cracked and thick from flash flooding.

[EaglesPhan36]

I remember that story Willie. Good find. I'll be sad if the 'Stros trade him. He's my favorite current Astros player, but at the same time the team is stuck in neutral and desperately needs some life in their farm system. Personally I'd rather keep him and trade someone like Carlos Lee. Not that Lee isn't a solid offensive player, but he could fetch a decent package of prospects in return and you could keep Oswalt as the center piece of a solid 1-2 punch with Wandy Rodriguez instead of putting too much pressure on Wandy to be the #1 guy while you're rebuilding. I think part of the reason Wandy has been so good is he doesn't feel the pressure any more. Not having Oswalt would push the pressure back on him again and I fear revert him to "old" Wandy.