Houston agrees to send Oswalt to Phillies; deal awaits Oswalt's approval

[pavyracer]

Bingo!

One story at ESPN says the Astros will pay $11 million of the $23 million Oswalt is owed through 2011. By my reckoning, that moves Wade and the Astros front office well below the 'clueless' level.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5420095

$23 million dollars for one season of baseball? That's like $1 million per start or $10,000 per pitch?

[2daBank]

i understand why philly wants to do this, but it is strange to me that they willing to pick up Oswalt's hefty contract but they didnt wanna pay Lee...No disrespect to Oswalt but who wouldnt rather have Lee?

[VTranX]

look on espn front page, he's ooking to waive the no trade clause.

[yisman]

i understand why philly wants to do this, but it is strange to me that they willing to pick up Oswalt's hefty contract but they didnt wanna pay Lee...No disrespect to Oswalt but who wouldnt rather have Lee?

Lee was part of the 3 way deal to get Halladay. They weren't going to be able to have both.

As for Oswalt, the Astros are picking up some of the money, as stated.

[Dad]

Looks like he's a Phil

[philswin]

The Phillies had to stay within a 140 million payroll this year per their ownership. Thye were close to 20 million over at the start of the year. By shedding Lee's 9 mil salary and receiving 9 million in cash when they traded him they got to thier 140 mil number. In acquiring Oswalt, Houston is picking up most of the money left on this years contract. For next year with Moyer (8 mil) and Werth (7 mil I think) coming off the books they are able to fit in Oswalt for next year. Not saying trading Lee was a good move but it was what Amaro was dealing with.

[philswin]

Halladay was not part of the Lee trade they were seperate transactions

[2daBank]

Lee was part of the 3 way deal to get Halladay. They weren't going to be able to have both.

As for Oswalt, the Astros are picking up some of the money, as stated.

im pretty sure they could have made the Halladay deal happen w/o Lee (i didnt even realize Lee was part of the Halladay deal), and i doubt hou is picking up enough of the tab for Oswalt not to be severely overpaid next year...

[yisman]

Halladay was not part of the Lee trade they were seperate transactions

It was considered a three or even four way deal. They happened at the same time and were contingent on one another.

The Phillies needed to trade Lee in order to get Halladay.

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091215&content_id=7814772&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi

[2daBank]

Halladay was not part of the Lee trade they were seperate transactions

that is what i thought, i wasnt a 100% sure though....

[philswin]

They were only linked fom a financial perspective. That the Phillies did not have the budget to keep both. They could have kept both if not for their self-imposed budget. The trades were not linked together from the Phillies standpoint

[DwightShrute]

no recession in MLB

[linedrivr]

He has stunk it up lately. Hopefully, he will give some better effort there.

[CashMoney27]

its going to be another phillies yankees series this year

[philswin]

Phillies should get a nice jolt from Oswalt and Dominic Brown (Baseball Americas midseason #1 prospect in baseball) . But they have some ground to make up

[2daBank]

Phillies should get a nice jolt from Oswalt and Dominic Brown (Baseball Americas midseason #1 prospect in baseball) . But they have some ground to make up

lucky for them Braves are falling apart and cant win on the road.....

[EaglesPhan36]

As a longtime Astros fan, this deal sucks. I think they got fleeced. Happ is going to be 28 already by the end of the year and who knows if he's going to be as good as his whole one year in the majors when he had nice numbers. Gose is drawing comparisons to Michael Bourn and that's not exactly flattering. The SS might have some potential, but Jesus ... Ed Wade made this shit like Oswalt had six bricks of C4 stuck up his ass that were going to blow at the trade deadline if he didn't deal him.

[cadillac pete]

The Phillies will win the division going away...The Braves are a fraud will collapse over the next two months.

[MC PICKS]

Deal is done so the rumores say.

[philswin]

Bad trade for Astros why they would agree to put in that much cash into the deal is amazing, they really wanted to get rid of Oswalt and the Phillies were the only bidders. Happ had an excellent rookie year. It was really a suprise. He was never dominating in the minors just solid. He was considered a major league prospect but more a bad end of the rotation starter. He started great last year but faded in the last month. He has solid but not great stuff. He struggled this year even after getting healthy following his injury. He could end up being an excellent player. A lot of pitchers ie young Jamie Moyer are late bloomers and get by with average stuff. But he is definatly not a sure thing.

[eidolon]

Looks like a good trade for both teams.
I'm just wondering if Happ will pass his physical with Houston; that is probably the only thing stopping this trade now.

[bluefish]

I hope they get him

[EaglesPhan36]

Astros flipped Gose to Toronto for 1B Brett Wallace. At least that makes some sense. Good lefty prospect who will probably be given a shot to start next year or this year if they can dump Berkman.

[Vesuvius]

solid short term pick up for the phils

[ji03]

I thought the Astros could have got a little more than Happ, a lefty that has never made a major impact and two prospects, but they get rid of his salary.

[THE HITMAN]

Interesting. Houston has been showcasing him for months just trying to get him to start showing his old form to no avail. To his credit, it all hasn't been his fault.

[yisman]

I thought the Astros could have got a little more than Happ, a lefty that has never made a major impact and two prospects, but they get rid of his salary.

only part of it...