For 20 minutes late Wednesday, Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge talked on the phone.
It had been two months since Oswalt, the Houston righthander, had demanded a trade from the Astros. He had been presented a potential deal to come to the Phillies. With Saturday's trade deadline fast approaching, the 32-year-old ace turned to Lidge, a teammate for six seasons in Houston.
Was Philadelphia a place he wanted to be?
"I promise you won't regret it," the Phillies' closer told him.
On Thursday, Oswalt told the Astros he would waive his no-trade clause. He became a Phillie later that afternoon.
The Phillies traded lefthander J.A. Happ and two prospects - outfielder Anthony Gose and infielder Jonathan Villar - to Houston for Oswalt.
Oswalt flew to Washington and spent Thursday night in a hotel room waiting for his new teammates to arrive for a weekend series against the Nationals. He will start Friday's opener for the Phillies.
"We think we acquired one of the premier starting pitchers in baseball," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said.
Incredibly, Amaro has been able to say that three times in the last calendar year. Exactly a year ago Thursday, the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee from the Indians for a package of four prospects. In the off-season, Amaro traded for Roy Halladay and dealt Lee away to Seattle. Now, he has Oswalt.
The Phillies were able to avoid dealing their best hitting prospect (now that Domonic Brown is in the majors), single-A first baseman Jonathan Singleton. Gose and Villar are likely to be three to four years away from the majors. Happ, the runner-up for National League rookie of the year in 2009, was difficult to part with, Amaro said.
The general manager said the reason the Phils ended up with Halladay and Oswalt instead of keeping Lee is because they can keep their two current aces beyond 2010. Halladay signed a three-year contract extension through 2013. Oswalt is under control through 2011 and has a mutual option for 2012.
As a part of the deal, the Astros also sent $11 million to the Phillies. That will help subsidize the approximate $23 million Oswalt is guaranteed over the next year and a half.
The Phillies also sweetened the buyout to $2 million for Oswalt's 2012 option.
Baseball and Phillies sources said money was an issue in getting the trade done. The Phillies already have the fourth-highest payroll in the majors and needed substantial money in return to make the deal work for this season and next. Even with the $11 million infusion, Amaro admitted the team is left with little financial flexibility for 2011.
A Phillies source said because Oswalt held all the power with his no-trade clause, he waited out a deal as long as possible. He never ruled out Philadelphia as a destination, but it was not his top choice.
Oswalt was not available to Philadelphia reporters. He did speak on his way out of the Astros' clubhouse.
"I'm gone," Oswalt told the Houston Chronicle. "It's pretty tough packing up my locker. It's tough to leave Houston, but I'm going to a good situation. Philly has a good situation, but now I have to hurry up and pack my locker up."
In 10 seasons, Oswalt won 143 games and lost 82 for Houston, posting a 3.24 ERA. He has started at least 30 games in each of the last six seasons. Five times he has finished in the top five of Cy Young Award voting. In the postseason, Oswalt has a 4-0 record with a 3.66 ERA in eight career appearances.
This season, on a dreadful Astros team, Oswalt was 6-12. But his 3.42 ERA ranked 19th in the National League entering play Thursday. With Halladay, Oswalt, and Cole Hamels, the Phillies have three pitchers among the top 21 NL pitchers in ERA.
"We think we can stack ourselves up with one of the best rotations in baseball," Amaro said.
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Video: Dave Murphy talks Oswalt and streaking Phils
