It isn’t often that you see a trade welcomed by both sides. Ordinarily, only one side will be happy, or at least happier, and trades tend to be evaluated by who won and who lost. Still, today’s trade of Roy Oswalt from Houston to Philadelphia has been received well by fans of each team. We first check in with our friends at The Good Phight:
Astros, Phillies Fans Both Pleased With Roy Oswalt Trade
If that sounds like a good deal for the Phillies, that's because it is. J.A. Happ is a nice pitcher, Gose has tremendous potential, and Villar is emerging as an intriguing infield prospect, but the Phillies really just got an ace-quality starting pitcher to slot behind Roy Halladay in the rotation, at a huge discount, through 2011.
Oswalt's 2012 option has also apparently been converted into a "mutual" option. More on this as we learn about it.
So here we are: Roy Oswalt. Welcome to Philadelphia!
And as for The Crawfish Boxes?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Ed Wade’s and Bobby Heck’s direction for our farm system, it’s that they love speed and defense in position player prospects. I don’t necessarily agree with that focus; I prefer on-base percentage and power, in terms of bang-for-buck. However, I’m glad that they have a philosophy and a plan, and that they stick to their guns.
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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.
The general consensus around baseball appears to be that the Phillies come out as big winners here, as they gained a big piece without surrendering any building blocks. The Astros, though, didn’t exactly come away with nothing, so more power to them if they like what they got.
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