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Cards pursing Oswalt to bolster pitching staff
The St. Louis Cardinals are looking to fortify their already solid pitching staff for the stretch run, and have turned their attention to their division rival Houston Astros and their ace pitcher Roy Oswalt, multiple sources have confirmed.
Acquiring Oswalt would essentially give the Cards three aces and a dominant rookie in their pitching rotation. Add a healthy Kyle Lohse to the mix and the Cardinals would arguably have the best starting rotation in the Major Leagues.
But landing Oswalt could prove to be tricky on a couple of fronts. One, there is the money that he owed for the duration of his contract, which runs through 2012. He would be owed 7.5 million for the remainder of this season, which shouldn’t be an issue for the Cards. But then comes the matter of the $16 million he’s owed next season and a $16 million option for 2012. One thing that is currently working in the Cards’ favor is that Oswalt can veto any trade and reportedly prefers to play for the Cardinals and even previously notified the team that we would be open to restructuring the 2012 option if it meant landing in St. Louis, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Another obstacle to the deal could be murkier though, with the Astros apparently balking at trading their ace pitcher and face of their franchise to their division rival. In fact, a friend of Astros owner Drayton McClane said that “I’d have to see it to believe it – him going to St. Louis,” the friend said. “Unless Drayton is convinced his team can’t win for a couple of years anyway and it doesn’t matter, and that’s not him.”
So the dilemma for the Cards becomes do they attempt to drastically overpay for Oswalt in hopes of blowing any other offers away to get the Astros to bite. Reports have surfaced that the Cardinals indeed made an offer that was rejected by the Astros last week. The offer was believed to have included shortstop Brendan Ryan and another player (possibly Jon Jay) for Oswalt. But the key to any deal could be whether or not the Cardinals are willing to part with last year’s first-round draft pick Shelby Miller, who is a flame throwing pitcher from Texas that is projected to have ace potential. Miller is currently pitching in Low-A and cannot be traded until August, so the only option for him to be a part of any trade would be as a player to be named later.
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So do the Cards trade away their top prospect for a unique opportunity to win now and possibly 2-3 years in the future but risk Miller turning into an ace for your division rival down the road? Or do they hold on to Miller and let him develop into the front-line pitching prospect most experts expect him to be, but miss out on an opportunity of adding a pitcher like Oswalt that many believe would make the Cards the clear NL favorite to reach the World Series? When discussing in-division trades regarding an ace pitcher and a possible future ace, there are risks involved with both teams. This is why the Astros would be wise to ask for Miller in any potential deal that involves the Cardinals.
Either way, All-Star pitcher Adam Wainwright is excited about the potential of adding a pitcher of Oswalt’s caliber to the Cards’ rotation for a hopeful deep playoff run.
“If he’s in our rotation, nobody, nobody wants to play us in the playoffs,” Wainwright said.
Which is why the Cards may take such a risk with Oswalt, opportunities such as this don’t come around every year.
By: Levi Convirs
MLBCenter.com St. Louis Cardinals Correspondent
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