Oswalt Staying Put

Jordan Schafer, Julio Teheran, Cole Rohrbrough, Brent LIllibridge and Tommy Hanson for Oswalt and Bourn..?

The Braves then get Bourn to plug into center with Heyward and Francoeur on the corners, and Oswalt goes into a great rotation with Hudson, Smoltz, Glavine and Jurrjens. Then maybe they could shop Matt Diaz for relief help and use Brandon Jones as the fourth outfielder.

Make it happen Wren.

I think thats some of the teams he would go for, since they all content every year. But I know he said that he would love to play with Jake Peavy, so SD might have a shot, but than again who wants to play for a team that can't to save itself score any runs.

Scribble i think thats a start if you were getting Oswalt alone, asking for Bourn too might be over doing it. I only say that cause of the haul the O's got for Bedard.

That's pretty much the whole farm system for Oswalt. If I were the 'Stros I'd take it in a second, too. I just don't think the Braves would give up that much in one deal.

How about Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp or Brandon Moss, and Dustin Richardson for Oswalt?

If the Astros were going to trade Oswalt, they should (would?) have done it last year, and the best team would have been the Red Sox. They probably could have asked for Buccholz and Lowrie, maybe even a little more, if they got Buccholz before he was bumped to the majors (don't get me wrong, Buccholz is a great talent, but the Red Sox have been interested in Oswalt in the past and he's an established great pitcher signed well below market price).

Here's an interesting possibility - the Rays trade for Oswalt so they get an established, talented, relatively cheap vet to lead their cadre of young pitchers. They could send Reignac, Niemann, and someone else in return (and then take Tim Beckham with their 1st overall pick).

But it will never happen. Drayton MacLane won't let the Astros re-build (why do you think they gutted an already week farm system this offseason? He wants to win now and win always). So Oswalt and Berkman are staying put. Look for the Astros to make a run at one of the bigger free agent starting pitchers this offseason (probably not Sabathia, maybe Sheets if he stays relatively healthy). Plus, with Oswalt, Berkman, Lee, Pence, Tejada, Towles, and Bourn, they have a decent nucleus for next year. But they need another starter.

@ mymrbig, didn't you read the article, Oswalt doesn't want to go to the Rays. And Buchholz (one c, two h's) was not even going to be traded for Santana. Sorry.

Sox have a glut of B level prospects stashed throughout A/AA. I'd imagine any Oswalt offer would start at Lester, a top 5 pitching prospect, another top 10 prospect and maybe another top 25 guy or perhaps we eat a bad contract.

Who knows how it'd work out.

I don't see why people keep thinking Oswalt is going anywhere.

The Astros did their equivalent of an "All in" last offseason when they acquired Tejeda, Valverde, Matsui, Bourn, etc. They committed to winning now, and they can't just reverse course; they're committed.

Darin, honestly you are going to bank on Matt Cusi(c)k who is actually playing 2nd base in A- ball? I think Lowrie would take over at 3rd for the Astros right now.

Lowrie might be able to take over at 3rd. Though I'm not even sure how many games he's even played there. Lowrie's a good/solid minor league bat and it might carry him at 3rd in the majors, but his glove might not. I don't know since he's never really played there, but that has nothing to do with Cusick, who's not going to play 3rd.

My comment was that the Astros have a guy at 2nd in the minors (who may end up getting a taste of AA this year if he keeps it up), and that they should look to 1.)either get the best prospect available regardless of position or 2.)get prospects that fill their needs....and 2nd base isn't a huge need and can EASILY be filled, rather cheaply through Free Agency most years.

If that package of Lester, Lowrie and insert filler/garbage, was really offered, to me, Lowrie would be the centerpeice, seeing that Lester is a poor man's Wandy Rodriguez.

So basically the Astros would get a guy that'll probably be league average hitter and below average fielder at 3rd (ie, slightly better Ty Wigginton) and a back of the rotation lefty. So why do that deal, when there's probably either better prospects that fit the Astros needs either in that organization or in another teams (such as the Braves).

If I'm the Stros I'm going to the Braves looking for Yunel Escobar and Jurrens...even if that means packaging other players and putting money into it.

"And also, the fact that they wouldnt trade him for Santana isnt a legit arguement to me, because I can make an arguement that at the time Santana was traded, Oswalt was more valuable then Johan was."

why would oswalt be more valuable? because of the contract? i wouldnt want my team trading for oswalt, nearly everyone of his stats has steadily declined each of the last 4 years. while santana is in his prime and is much more dominant.

The Astros have become the Orioles of the NL.

High payroll, management and fan base (primarily management though) living in a fantasy world, not much to get excited about down on the farm. This model will lead to perpetual mediocrity.

It took until this off-season for the O's to finally get it. Trading Bedard and Tejada were both brilliant moves. They need to move another 6 or 7 guys to complete the transformation. With a young team and CASH available to sign the right FA's the O's can transform themselves to jokers to players in a few years time.

I read his post nrmax88. He was suggesting the Rays when the article said Oswalt was only interested in 3 teams- not the Rays.

That's true Tim, but that doesn't take into consideration the fact that he doesn't care about strikeouts, he pitches to contact more and more, so of course his K rate is going to go down. He's becoming more efficient with his pitches, think a poor man's greg maddux with a 95mph fastball. He's an awesome big game pitcher, a great competitor, and an all around good clubhouse guy.
Also Drayton will never approve trading him...so this is a non-story.