PHILLIES GET A VICE ROY (POST JULY 30, 2010)

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You got to love it!

I applaud you one Ruben Amaro Jr …………..

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Can really have too many Roy’s?

First we got the President of the Mound Doc ROY HALLADAY and now he has a Vice President named ROY OSWALT!

THE DEAL:

PHILLIES GET

• ROY OSWALT AND $11,000,000 BUCKS

ASTROS GET

• LHP J A HAPP – a potential solid to very good #3 MLB starter

• 2008 Draft Pick Anthony Gose – Presently Single A player – 20 years old. (As of Aug 10th he will be 20) From what I have found he is a slap hitting base stealing speedster. Gose is already a great outfielder with a plus arm. Reportedly being traded to Toronto however.

• 19 year old Jonathon Villar – International Free Agent from the Dominican Republic: Presently Single A level. Reported to have a high ceiling at Shortstop and possesses great speed. Switch hitter with good average potential. He has great range and a gun of an arm from shortstop but has made a ton of errors at this early stage.

All in all this is a great trade, especially when you factor in the money aspect. Basically the Phillies can use that money to pay Oswalt for the remainder of this season and not raise there pay roll. And they even can minus the couple of bucks left on Happ’s contract. LOL

Here is some interesting Oswalt tidbits:  SINCE his 2001 debut

Category	Oswalt	NL Rank
Wins	143	1st
ERA	3.24	5th
Strikeouts	1,593	1st
Innings	1,958 2/3	2nd

Oswalt is also 56 and 13 after August 1 in his career and he is a solid 4 and 0 in the post season. For those counting Cliff Lee is also 4 and 0 in the post season.

THE LEE vs OSWALT DEBATE:

No one would argue that LEE is not a better pitcher at this stage. But it is not that large of a margin of a difference. They are both workhorses and very good to great pitchers.

• PLUS LEE is he is younger and you would have had him from the start of the season

• MINUS LEE is that he was 99% sure to be gone after 2010

• PLUS OSWALT is he gives you just as much of a chance if you make post season 2010 and you have him for at least 1 more year and an option for 2 – that is a huge difference to me considering you got Halladay for a couple more years also

• PLUS OSWALT is he is right handed, which was a problem before. Ironically that kind has changed at the moment. Losing Happ to trade and Moyer to injury

• PLUS OSWALT it did not cost you anything this year and part of next with Houston giving you half of the money he is owed!

Continuing on the last PLUS for OSWALT. Ruben made a great trade and also looks consistent on the trading Lee decision. They made it clear they did not want to over spend and deplete the farm system. This move is in harmony with both!

You got the Astros to foot the bill and you did not give up any significant prospect. Gose or Villar may turn out to be really good but you still have plenty of other prospects at the Single A and Rookie level. Not too mention you gave nothing from the Double A or Triple A. Of course you could argue there is nothing there that anyone wants too but that is another story. The point is, Ruben is sticking to his story!

WILL WE MISS HAPP?:

Sure we will, he was a big part of 2009 and he even had his moments in 2008. But frankly he is often injured and takes a long time to recover it seems. Plus let’s not re-write history. J A Happ is a very strong competitor and has the heart of a lion but he has the talent of a very good #4 starter with the will to be a very good #3 starter. That is worth giving up to get an Oswalt every time.

Yes Happ is better than Blanton and Kendrick but is he really any better than Moyer? He will be most likely but right now, not really. So that is what you are looking at. Nothing more and nothing less. I think Happ will be somewhere between Randy Wolf and Jamie Moyer when it’s all said and done.

So let us not pretend we just pulled a Ryne Sandberg deal. Or even a Curt Shilling deal. This is much closer to a Gavin Floyd or Brandon Duckworth trade.Honestly I do think Happ has shown more potential then either of them have but you get my point.

RUBEN YOU DID GOOD MY MAN! Now get us a closer ……………….. LOL