That's one way of looking at it. Another way is that they now have Roy Oswalt for free this season and partially paid for next season. I'm not sure if they got anything else back in the Halladay deal as a result of trading Lee but either way, that would only be a bonus if they did. My understanding is that the Phillies' owner had a pre-condition that they move Lee in order to take on Halladay's salary. As is, the Phillies have already blown away their previous high payroll and that is without having paid Lee his $8 mil or so: http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/philadelphia-phillies_18.html Maybe they could've passed on Polanco but I think they saw that as a bigger need to fill at the time and were tired of Pedro Feliz as Astros fan became, too, in less than half a season. That was a pointless signing by none other than Wade and/or McLane if McLane if was pressuring him to make the move. The Phillies probably figured Halladay, Hamels, Happ, etc... could keep them competitive and then address any pitching needs at the trade deadline, which they just accomplished in grand fashion. Free Roy Oswalt sounds good. He may not be Cliff Lee but now they have an upgrade at 3B and a very good pitcher. Most of the analysis I've seen is praising the Phillies as one of the smartest front offices in the league after where they've put themselves at this point after going to two straight WS and winning one.
Wow, they just flashed Roy's stats over his last 13 starts against the NL East. He had an ERA north of 7, an AVG against of over .300 and an 0-6 record. I'm sure somebody on the Philly side used those numbers to bring down demands.
No apologies necessary, it's the rough and tumble internet, but the sentiment is noted and appreciated nonetheless. I won't lie. I had to leave the house for work prior to the press conference and was baffled by the initial reports that had the Astros giving all that money and getting no significant AA or AAA prospect in return. The deal with Toronto makes me feel a whole lot better about what the Astros got in exchange for Oswalt.
SI_JonHeyman #nats believed to ask #chisox for either beckham or hudson/viciedo tandem for dunn. too much. nats still want edwin jackson Puma for Viciedo...I am calling it now. :grin:
Exactly, which is why after they got Wallace in the deal things made a lot more sense. I would have been ok with Happ and Singleton by itself but just wasn't meant to be I guess.
I am happier with Wallace than Singleton. The Astros have talent in the low minors, but they have absolutely nothing in Round Rock. They flipped Oswalt for two young players--one starting pitcher and one first baseman with some power--who will both contribute to the major league team and will be under club control for the foreseeable future. They got younger and cheaper, which will allow the front office flexibility to make the moves necessary to bring this team back to respectability.
One more thing about Wallace...Cards fans have to be a little concerned. Can you imagine how fun it will be to rub him in their faces if he turns into the Real Deal?
Berkman has told the Astros he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause if the club found a deal to make itself better, but he hasn't gone as far as Oswalt and requested a trade. He said the club hasn't approached him about a trade and expects to finish out the season in Houston. "I don't think there's anything that's imminent, but that doesn't mean something couldn't happen," Berkman said. "The next 48 hours will be interesting to how it plays out, but not only with us, but around baseball. " he's getting traded, folks. should i start a puma trade rumblings thread?
check out all the NL Rookie winners of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Players_Choice_Award all basically studs since it's inception, besides: Jason Jennings, Preston Wilson, Willy Taveras, and ......(yet to be determined?) seems to be a common connection between the 4.
So it's a done deal? I thought it was still all speculation. "Oswalt will make his Phillies debut Friday night against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. " Going to be tough to see....
I live in Chicago and the White Sox are my second favorite team. The Sox won't trade Viciedo for Berkman. Their GM is very high on him. A low level minor leaguer is more likely.
Quoting myself to say that Jim Callis just said the same thing on 790. Singleton, according to Callis, is slightly overrated and someone he couldn't believe the Phillies deemed untouchable in their negotiations with the Astros. He's a young kid who's been tearing it up, but he's also only doing it in A ball. Brett Wallace has done it at a higher level against better competition and is much closer to the majors. Callis would take Wallace over Singleton.
heard that too... but i agree with Callis' sentiment that it seems slightly preposterous that the astros weren't able to get one of the phillies' top prospects in return. $11M is a boat load of money. swapping wallace for gose may make it better for the astros but it does nothing to diminish the sentiment that the phillies came out looking like they pulled a fast one on us.
Same here. I don't care about the money because it's not mine and this isn't the NFL or the NBA with a salary cap. On the other hand, I am surprised the Astros would agree to absorb that much of Oswalt's salary at the same time that the Phils are deeming certain prospects untouchable. I hope the reason the Astros made this trade is because they are big believers in Happ, Villar, and Wallace and not simply because they wanted to move on and didn't want to deal with the media backlash if they'd failed to ship Oswalt off before the trade deadline.
I felt the same way until the Wallace trade.. that made me think that maybe Gose was a better prospect than I was giving him credit for. If we're sitting here saying we'd rather have Wallace than Singleton, I can't complain about the deal we made with Philadelphia -- I'd like to think Wade knew in advance he was going to flip Gose for Wallace.
Will Happ be the next Jason Jennings for the Astros? '09 may have been a fluke, since his previous numbers don't suggest he is as good as his 2009 statistics might lead you to believe. Keep in mind, he's coming off of an injury as well. This could be a disaster for the Astros. They need more baseball minds running the organization in my opinion. Their leadership/front office has sucked.
As someone who no longer has the spare time to keep track of all things Houston sports related, I just want to say thanks to all of you guys who make it very easy for me to keep current. This thread has been like watching CNN-Astros. Sounds like the real coup here is the addition of this Wallace kid. I can't wait to see him play at the Diamond.
