Reaction from around the blogosphere about the Phillies landing Roy Oswalt:
- Jerry Manuel: “A move like that, it gets your attention. He’s one of the top guys out there. To have that piece in your rotation is quite an improvement.”
- Charlie Manuel: “Gee, fellas, that’s just swell. That kid’s got moxie. Now let’s go out and give Atlanta the business, get me?” (note: my notes were a bit garbled so that quote may not be 100% accurate)
- Crashburn Alley: The Phillies absolutely 100% swindled Astros GM Ed Wade . . . As much as GM Ruben Amaro has been criticized, he deserves some praise for this highway robbery.
- Rob Neyer: “It’s hard to believe the Astros couldn’t have done better than this . . . But then again, if they could have done appreciably better, wouldn’t they have?”
- The 700 Level: “Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt. I just keep saying it over and over.”
- The Crawfish Boxes: “Is this a great return for Oswalt? No. But it’s not terrible. The Astros get a piece to help them now, and some pieces with huge potential. Give these players a chance and let’s see how it goes.”
- FanGraphs: “Trading Oswalt was one of the team’s few opportunities to find its next star, and they didn’t do it. This is a team mining for role players when they don’t have the budget to find their foundation pieces through free agency. It’s terribly misguided management.”
- Richard Justice: “The Astros didn’t get lousy overnight, and they’re not going to be fixed overnight. But they made a significant step in the right direction on Thursday.”
- Paul Hagen: “no matter how they try to spin it, it’s a tacit admission that well, er, gee, they probably should have just held onto Lee in the first place.”
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution Columnist Jeff Schultz: “Is it panic time? Not at all. But worry time, maybe.”
I guess that covers the bases. I agree with most of that stuff, though really guys, the Cliff Lee ship left the harbor months ago. Probably time to give up that line of reasoning, no?