Rangers pitcher Roy Oswalt was reportedly unhappy about being relegated to the Texas bullpen, leading Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports and others to suggest that the veteran put his concerns aside for the sake of the team. Morosi stopped short of saying that the Rangers should part ways with the veteran, but that notion has undoubtedly crossed the minds of fans who have watched Oswalt struggle this far with his new club. Here’s more out on Oswalt and some items out of the NL West as well..
- Oswalt and Rangers manager Ron Washington met Tuesday and both seemed satisfied that the right-hander is ready to help the bullpen in any way possible, writes Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com. The soon-to-be 35-year-old has also said that he never requested a trade from the club during any point of their disagreement.
- The Giants have looked into signing first baseman Lyle Overbay, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). However, the Giants would like the first baseman to get some work at Triple-A Fresno first and so far he is not eager to do that. Overbay was released by the D’Backs yesterday and Reds GM Walt Jocketty says that he isn’t interested in his services.
- The new Dodgers ownership has made it clear that they are willing to spend big in order to win, and this may just be the tip of the iceberg, writes Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Heyman adds that the Dodgers were not only willing to eat the remainder of Cliff Lee’s sizable contract but offered players in exchange for him as well.
Hey Oswalt, try pitching a full season before you start any of this crap again.
Thank goodness the dodgers filled out their outfield to ensure they won’t be “eating” Jason Bay.
Oh you can be sure he’d be a Dodger if Ned was playing with McCourt money.
Then they should have given Phil an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Which would be what? They have 1 blue chip prospect who is no game changer at this point.
Baldwin and so on.
You mean the guy hitting .202 with 146 strikeouts in 97 games for A-level ball? Not exactly a blue-chipper, sir.
Unless they were willing to part with Matt Kemp the Dodgers simply don’t have the players to offer the Phillies to make it worthwhile and unlike the Marlins, not everybody, is selling off players for 10 cents on the dollar.
Dodgers aren’t selling their players 10 cents on the dollar either.
I’m not sure that I’d call letting the Dodgers take 100% of Lee’s remaining contract off the Phillies’ hands as “10 cents on the dollar”. I’d say that it’s a great deal for the Phils’, if the Phillies were looking for salary relief.
you cant lose a player like lee for nothing.
even vernon wells brought back value
Complete relief from his remaining salary is NOT nothing.
you make it sound like he’s barry zito.
sure he’s high paid, but he’s an elite pitcher.
No, it was you who inferred that I was in some way saying that Lee wasn’t an elite pitcher. I implied no such thing.
However, the point cannot be dismissed that when you have an elite player making HUGE bucks on a long term deal, simply being able to offload that player’s entire remaining salary can be a major “return” all by itself, if your team is looking for salary relief.
lol matt kemp thats funny
That’s just Roy being Roy, can’t say I’m surprised.
If the Dodgers offered blue chip prospects, ie pitcher, 3B & OF, the Phils should’ve made the deal. Lee’s stats this year,W-L aren’t good but what he provides is more than that. I’m a Phillies fan & the only reason I can think of them not letting Lee go is a handshake promise to Hamels.
Or the fact that he could veto the trade…or the fact that Dodgers don’t have an MLB ready 3B and CF that would interest the Phillies. But, if the Dodgers offered Z. Lee for C. Lee and they’d pay all of his salary plus Cliff agreed to it, then I would have done it.
Or, Ruben could say, “Hey, you guys have a lot of money, why don’t you take Ryan Howard too? He likes to hit homeruns.”
If Overbay gets signed by the Giants and it means the end of Huff for good, I’m all for it.
Oswalt should probably just zip it. If he had played from the beginning of the season he would have had more breathing room, you don’t jump onto a division leader and expect to stick around the rotation long while your stinking it up. Unless your Yu Darvish.