Replies to post #108252 on Baseball Chat (BASEBALL)

[fung_derf]

Philadelphia gets Roy Oswalt from Houston for lefthander J.A. Happ, outfielder Anthony Gose, and shortstop Jonathan Villar, and in a way the deal comes out smelling a little for both teams – the Phillies because they arguably gave up more to get Oswalt than they got for Cliff Lee over the winter, and the Astros because it’s still not a slam dunk package, particularly considering they’re throwing significant cash into the deal



· The Astros are apparently on the verge of flipping Gose to Toronto (Jayson Stark, ESPN)



· The Dan Haren trade (namely, the seemingly underwhelming return that Arizona got) sure appears to have hurt Houston, and any other teams looking to trade starting pitching; wonder if the Astros might have done better if they’d acted sooner



· Haren reported no problems after a bullpen session yesterday and is in line to start against Texas on Saturday (MLB Network crawl)



· As pointed out in a local report, another Rangers lefthander who could interest the Marlins in a Jorge Cantu trade is Frisco starter Richard Bleier; like Evan Reed and Fabio Castillo, Bleier is probably a tier three prospect in this system



· The Rangers and Brewers got “not very far at all” on trade talks for Prince Fielder (Ken Davidoff, Newsday)



· Although “these things are always fluid, . . . for now [the] Yankees are out” on Adam Dunn and are “checking into other alternatives” (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)



· New York considered the asking price too steep, along the lines of something they might have considered for a player like Cliff Lee but not one like Dunn; Tampa Bay has backed off of Dunn for the same reason, and the frontrunners now appear to be the Giants and White Sox (Joel Sherman, New York Post)



· The Yankees and Rays may, on the other hand, still be hovering on Dunn, even if they’re not presently engaged in talks with the Nationals (Buster Olney, ESPN)



· The Rays are targeting Josh Willingham but, if unable to get him from Washington, may turn to Los Angeles for Bobby Abreu (Peter Gammons, MLB Network)



· The Rangers are “now involved in [the] second base market” after the Ian Kinsler injury, having already shown interest in Cristian Guzman over the past few weeks (Jon Paul Morosi, Fox Sports)



· That said, writes Morosi, the Rangers are among a few contenders who should stand pat at this point; Morosi adds: “It’s almost time to print playoff tickets”