MLB Trade Rumors: St. Louis Cardinals Front-Runners to land Roy Oswalt

Update: (8:50am CDT) ESPN’s Buster Olney reported this morning that talks between the Astros and Phillies had slowed way down yesterday after Oswalt required his 2012 option be picked up by any team trading for him.

However, Olney says that Oswalt would love to pitch in St. Louis and may even do so without requiring them to pick up the $16 million option.

If Oswalt won’t require St. Louis to do that, but required the Phillies to, seems the writing on the wall is he doesn’t want to play in the city of brothery love.

Update: (7/22/2010 – 7:30am CDT) According to Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports, the St. Louis Cardinals have apparently become the front runner to land Houston Astros’ right-hander Roy Oswalt.

Cacaterra says the two sides have been talking for several days and that Oswalt is open to the idea of pitching in St. Louis. The only problem is whether the Cardinals are ok with automatically picking up his $16 million option for 2012, along with his remaining $5 million this season and $16 million next season.

Update: (1:05pm CDT) ESPN’s Jayson Stark, via Twitter, says the Astros sent former player turned scout, Doug Brocail, to Indianapolis to watch Phillies Triple-A prospect J.A. Happ on Tuesday night.

Update: (10:25am CDT) Ken Rosenthal, via Twitter, checks in and talks about the Phillies’ Triple-A closer Scott Mathieson being used for a two-inning save today instead of using him in another save opportunity on Monday night. He speculates that it could be to showcase him to the Astros.

Rosenthal says the Phillies are talking to several teams on many fronts, apparently not just about Oswalt and Werth.

Update: (6:48am CDT) Nothing new from the overnight hours. Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse says that talks are ongoing between the Astros and Phillies so at least we know the pitcher they’re working on is Roy Oswalt.

The Phillies are also in seperate talks with Tampa Bay regarding Jayson Werth.

Update: (10:47pm CDT) Jayson Stark has another potential development as J.A. Happ was pulled from his start in Triple-A tonight.

Update: (10:44pm CDT) Jayson Stark, via Twitter, says that Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro is apparenlty a little miffed that ESPN reported that the team was “close to a major deal.”

Stark says that their report said that the team was “working on” a big deal, not “close to” a big deal.

Buster Olney, also via Twitter, says the Tampa Bay Rays have gotten involved but says their involvement surrounds Phillies’ outfielder Jayson Werth.

Update: (10:25pm CDT) Matt Gelb , staff writer for the Philadelphia Enquirer , says the reporters still have not met with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel because his door has remained closed.

A deal seems to involve outfielder Jayson Werth but Gelb says that he can’t see Werth being dealt to a National League team, and is of the opinion that he’ll be dealt to an American League team.

Update: (10:15pm CDT) Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, via Twitter , chimes in and says that a deal is “not close.” He says the Phillies are talking to “many teams on many fronts” and that the Diamondbacks, A’s, and Astros are not close to a deal.

Update: (10:03pm CDT) According to ESPN’s Buster Olney , the Phillies have not discussed Dan Haren or any pitchers from the Rays. I misread that tweet from Olney, though it’s contrary to Jayson Stark’s article that says they have discussed Haren. That being known, it seems more and more likely that it’s Roy Oswalt about to be headed east.

Starks’ article also talks about the Phillies being more aggressive about moving outfielder Jayson Werth to free up a roster spot for top prospect Domonic Brown.

Update: (9:57pm CDT) Jayson Stark has an article up and says the Phillies have also discussed Baltimore‘s Jeremy Guthrie and Oakland‘s Ben Sheets. Though a “major trade” to me says “major pitcher.” Hence either Oswalt or Haren have to be the guy they’re after.

9:54pm CDT With the Major League Baseball trade deadline just a week and a half away, it seems that the wheels are in motion for this month’s second big trade.

This time, according to Jayson Stark and Buster Olney of ESPN, it’s the Philadelphia Phillies that are the center of the all the talks. It’s not known who exactly the Phillies are about to land, but rumors are that they’ve discussed Houston’s Roy Oswalt, Arizona’s Dan Haren, and pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays.

We’ll get updates up on this story as it develops as well as the players that might be involved, so keep checking back with us.

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