That’s the world from Ken Rosenthal, who says that the Astros’ efforts to make a deal for Roy Oswalt are being thwarted by:
- Money. We knew this, of course. Oswalt is owed about $6 million more this season and $16 million in 2011;
- Oswalt: Rosenthal suggests that Oswalt is getting cute with his no-trade clause, and that the teams he will or will not agree to be traded to is a “moving target.” and
- The front office: Ed Wade is trying to “hit a home run” in terms of prospects, while not being all that willing to kick in any money in the deal. Those two concepts don’t really go together.
Is it just me, or does it sound like no one in Houston is all that hot to deal Oswalt? Oswalt made the trade demand to kick all this off, but since then I haven’t gotten the sense that he really wants to go. If he did, he’d be less fussy about the no-trade, right? The Astros, it seems, would love to keep the guy around. It’s like they’re shopping him simply because a critical mass of people have said they should be.
And that critical mass is not really wrong. But if neither the team nor the player have their hearts in it, why bother?