MLB trade deadline rumours: Oswalt unlikely to move
We all know Roy Oswalt is on the trading block, there’s no secret about that and we all know by now that Oswalt won’t agree to a trade unless a team picks up the $16million option on his contract.
And normally what happens is, a team will refuse to do so but come trade deadline day the team gives in and comes to an agreement, signing the player at the last possible minute. But you don’t get the feeling that will happen with Oswalt because teams, especially the ones chasing him, are unwilling to add a significant amount of payroll and with Oswalt being so strong willed he won’t back down from his demands.
Barring a sudden change of heart and Oswalt lessening his demands, Houston won’t be able to trade him.
The two teams trailing Oswalt are the Philadelphia Phillies and the St Louis Cardinals and neither have the capacity to take on that extra year Oswalt wants. The Cardinals need to re-sign Albert Pujols, which could be a record breaking deal, and the Phillies traded Cliff Lee last year because they couldn’t afford to keep him after his contract expired and have Roy Halladay on the same team. More than likely they will have to let Jason Werth go in free agency to decrease payroll.
And just one last thing on the Oswalt trade, the Astros are very unwilling to trade their ace to a division rival so that seemingly would rule the Cardinals out. So it’s either the Phillies or no-one at the moment, and the Phillies are reportedly looking at alternatives.
And with the Phillies at the limit of their payroll, Werth could be traded at the deadline. However, with Werth almost certainly going to test the free agent market come the off-season, teams will be unwilling to give up a package full of good prospects for the outfielder and that means Werth should be staying with Philadelphia until at least the end of the season.
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