Houston ace wants out; go to a contender

Roy Oswalt wants to out but where to?

Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, 33, has officially asked Astros management to be traded, particularily to a World Series contender.

My question is why it took so long. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2005 – when they went to the World Series and lost – and Oswalt isn’t getting any older or better.

The problem with a trade for Oswalt is Astros owner Drayton McLane and General Manager Ed Wade. These two are some of the most inept people in the industry. They have successfully run the Astros into the ground in five short years since going to the World Series.

Since 2005, the Astros have lost out on one of the best centerfielders in the game – Carlos Beltran – have made bad signing after bad signing, and acted like they were in contention each year despite a pathetic roster.

Despite all of these dumb things, the Astros could have drafted well a continued to replenish their roster with nice young talent. But then again we are talking about the Astros.

For the past few years the Astros have been ranked in the bottom five in farm rankings system.

The Astros hate trading away veteran talents especially if they don’t get exactly what they want but they need to make this trade.

Oswalt signed a 5 year – $73 million dollar contract in 2007 and this is another problem in trading for Oswalt. He is due over $30 million dollars over the next two seasons and we all should know that the Astros will have no intention in paying any of that. Yet, they will still ask for an organizations top prospects.

So where can Oswalt go?

There is the Dodgers who have a decent farm system (but not a great one anymore after pulling up guys like Matt Kemp for the past few years) and should have the money to eat the salary.

Two problems with the Dodgers. First is that they might have an even dumber owner –Frank McCourt – going through a ridiculous divorce. Got to love the irony in that one by the way. He also says he wants to keep the pay roll under $100 million despite him earning more and more every year. He is ruining the team.

The second issue with the Dodgers is the fact that their best young farms hands (prospects) are extremely raw or have graduated to the big leagues.

The Astros could ask for a major league player in return but if the Dodgers trade one of their core pieces like Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier, LA will revolt and possibly have the Owner and GM’s heads.

Then there is a team like the Yankees. They are getting a better farm system and definitely have enough money but they reportedly like their rotation and prospects too much. Also for the Yankees why would you want to get older than you already are?

There is the Mets who desperately need help. They are such a streaky team that they would benefit from having two aces in Johan Santana and Roy Oswalt and then that would make Mike Pelfrey the third pitcher in the rotation.

The problem with the Mets is that besides having a gigantic payroll already, is they have a pathetic farm system, which might be actually worse than the ‘Stros especially after pulling up Ike Davis.

No way the Mets can trade Ike Davis or even Jenrry Mejia – who was recently sent back down to the minors where he belong – if they expect to in the upcoming seasons. The Mets aren’t like the Yankees were they can spend at an insane rate, because the Yankees will out bid you if they want a player.

Who bought a mid-market team like the Twins? They have a nice farm system, an increasing payroll due to their new stadium Target Field, and are primed to make a run at the World Series.

The problem for the Astros is that the Twins are not stupid. They will not get screwed in a deal again like they did with the Johan Santana deal. They will not give up their best prospects AND pay all of Oswalt’s remaining contract.

For the Twins it might be counter-productive anyways. Francisco Liriano seems to be back to his old form pre-Tommy John surgery. So they really do not need an ace anymore in front of their young rotation that had no “true ace.”

I’m sure there are a few teams putting out “feelers” to judge how much the Astros would like for Oswalt but right now it looks like Oswalt might be stuck with the sorry ‘Stros at least until the offseason.