Phillies land Oswalt; three prospects going to Houston
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Phillies land Oswalt; three prospects going to Houston
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb
The Phillies have completed a three-player trade with the Houston Astros for righthander Roy Oswalt.
Lefthanded pitcher J.A. Happ, outfielder Anthony Gose and infielder Jonathan Villar are going to Houston.
Villar, who has been removed from single-A Lakewood's lineup tonight, is hitting .272 with two home runs and 36 RBIs. Villar, 19, has 42 errors in 99 games as Lakewood's shortstop but projects as a corner infielders down the line.
Gose, who turns 20 on Aug. 10, is hitting .263 with four home runs and 20 RBIs for single-A Clearwater. He has 36 stolen bases but has been caught stealing 27 times.
Happ, whom the Phillies have injury concerns about, has made three starts this season after finishing as runner-up National League Rookie of the Year. He is 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA in three starts. Happ, 27, strained his left elbow on April 15.
Happ was running on the warning track at Citizens Bank Park around 3 p.m. and was pulled aside by pitching coach Rich Dubee and the two entered a tunnel down the rightfield line.
The monetary details of the trade are still unknown.
The two teams have reportedly agreed on a way to handle the remainder of Oswalt's salary. ESPN is reporting the Phillies have asked the Astros to pay a "significant portion" of the $5 million Oswalt is due for the remainder of this season plus the $16 million Oswalt is due in 2011.
Then, of course, there is the $16 million club option for 2012.
That has been the sticking point all along, a baseball source told The Inquirer earlier in the week.
"Oswalt has [Astros general manager] Ed Wade and everybody else at his mercy because of that no-trade clause," the source said. "I know the Phillies thought they were close to having it done last week, but I think the difference was that option year."
More to come...
From Amaro's standpoint this deal is a Lee "do over". Fact of the matter is though....we could have had all of them. Too bad they couldn't have sent Kendrick to the Astros instead of Happ. I guess Ed Wade isn't "that" stupid!— SteveS11
Comment removed.- Great deal by Rube, rumor has the Astros sending 11 million in cash with him. So this year and next we have Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt. That is a great 3 for the post season.— bobf876
- Great trade...Now I will have something to do in October...watch the Phillies in the World Series...I might get to the birds by late october...— ceocreates
STFU to all the folks commenting on Lee.- No, really, they could have never had Halladay, Hamels, Lee, Oswalt, and Blanton. No way they could have had them all and still paid everyone in the lineup— seaonasdad
- Enough with all the mumbo-jumbo. Just let us know when the trade is finalized.— XmarksTheSpot
- Seems like whole mess came from overvaluing Blanton and offering him arbitration --which locked in cost of $8mil/yr. for Blanton. Had they simply let Blanton be free agent, they would have been able to keep Lee or $9 mil and not have needed to do this --rotation would now be Lee, Halladay, Hamels, Haap and Kendrick (replacing Moyer). They also should have kept Myers for 3-5 mil who could have been insurance as either closer or starter. Ths is more glaring by realization that Lee is not just another ace, but quite frankly right now the single best pitcher in basball (anyone else you'd want starting a World Series must-win game right now?). Having said that, and notwithstanding Amaro's smug arrogance and refusal to verbally admit his mistakes, at least he is taking some action to improve the bad situation he created and trying to move on as best as he can -- and this transaction clearly helps the Phils chances this yr and in 2011. but doesn't it look like Ruben thinks he's playing fantasy ball and trading baseball cards with other people's money ....— warbiscuit
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- I have full faith that this deal is great for the phillies simply for the reason that the other team's GM is ED WADE (AKA: The biggest moron in baseball this side of Bud Selig)— Ryan
if anyone knows our farm system, its ed wade. i agree lee in the rotation would've been great, but i'll be happy with this...— Heckler- Anthony Gose might turn out to be a good player, but he's shown signs of regression or at least stagnation in the last year or so, at least by the numbers. I am thrilled if that's the deal, plus one of either Worley or Cosart, but not both. Or Rizzotti, though I don't know if he's even been considered interesting by the Astros.— B in DC
- All those people who are so concerned about prospects, think about the can't miss prospects that the Phils gave up for Lee. carasco, knapp and Marson have not done anything in Cleveland. Marson is batting sub .200 in the minors now. The first baseman in Single A is never getting to the show with howard in the line up and since teh Phils inked him to a long term deal is makes sense to trade him. I hope that they don't get rid of Worley, cause he looked like he has got legit big league stuff when he closed the game last week, but other than him, the Astros can take what they want. The Phils with a playoff rotation of Halladay (R), Hamels (L) and Oswalt (R) will be pretty tough to beat in any series.— Philalawyer
- Post-2007 Oswalt is nothing special at all. Wake me when we get a closer
