[ESPN INSIDER] What the Astros want for Oswalt (need article)

Jayson Stark checks in with some new tidbits on the Astros' Roy Oswalt talks:

• Clubs the Astros have spoken with say Houston is looking for four players in return -- one player who is either on the major-league roster or is major-league ready, two "high-end" prospects and one second-tier prospect.

• The Astros reportedly haven't found one interested team that is willing to pick up Oswalt's $16-million option -- which Oswalt has attempted to make a precondition to his approval of any deal. Amy Nelson reported today, however, that a source said that Oswalt would agree to restructure his deal if that would facilitate a trade to the Cardinals.

• One long-time baseball friend of Astros owner Drayton McLane seemed highly dubious that McLane would sign off on trading Oswalt to the Cardinals unless there was absolutely no other alternative.

"I'd have to see it to believe it -- him going to St. Louis," the friend said, "unless Drayton is convinced his team can't win for a couple of years anyway and it doesn't matter. And that's not him."

 

Let's hope his friend hasn't spent a lot of time with the new and improved Drayton McLane.

You know, the one that is finally facing reality... dedicating more resources to drafting and signing players... willing to trade our best players before they decline further... focusing on rebuilding efforts... etc...

Too optimistic?

 

I really hope that his hesitancy to trade Oswalt to the Cardinals doesn't keep the Astros from being able to move Roy. I look at it this way: If the Cardinals don't get Oswalt, they'll just go out and get someone else either this year or during the offseason. You aren't going to keep the Cardinals from bringing in good players.

 

Folks should stop freaking about things they read in the media. You can go back less than 2 weeks and find 180 degree opposite statements "attributed" to just about everyone: Roy, Drayton, Wade, Nolan, "another NL/AL GM", "a scout from a rival NL/AL team", "sources close to...", Stark, Rosenthal ,Heyman (hack), the moil from Theo Epstein's bris....Much of it, if not all, is deliberately leaked by other teams, and it's all for show. Disinformation abounds.

 

The D-Backs got a solid, albeit unspectacular SP in Joe Sauders and two mid-tier prospects for Dan Haren. It looks like the Astros are asking for too much for Oswalt.

 

or did the D-Backs give Haren away too easily?

funny...because on one hand I hear Jayson Stark say: "there's no one who doesn't think the Angels won this trade."

and then on the other I hear him say: "The Astros will have to soften their demands in light of the Haren trade."

 

Skaggs, the reported PTBNL, looks to be more than a mid-tier prospect. He was their 2009 supplemental first rounder. 18 year old lefty averaging a K per inning.

 

Or, it could be that Haren has a 4.60 ERA in the weak NL this season, and has about double the guaranteed money left on his deal that Oswalt does.

 

The Diamondbacks made a stupid deal because for some stupid reason a lot of people in the league have this idea in their head that Joe Saunders is a really good pitcher which is just not true.

That said, the Astros are asking for too much if they expect to get a major league ready contributor AND two high end prospects + a filler prospect. No one is going to pay that price.

 

He has an insane BABIP right now which means some of this era issues are probably a factor of an unlucky season thus far. He also plays in a park with a worse park factor than Oswalt. He's also younger and while his contract is guaranteed it's at a more "team friendly" level for a pitcher of his potential ability.

He's also proven he can be very successful in the American League and doesn't have the consistent nagging issues that Oswalt has.

I think a lot of Astros fans are overrating Oswalt's value, and I know the Astros management are. They seem content to either get a king's ransom or just keep him.