The Houston Astros have traded RHP Roy Oswalt to the Philadelphia Phillies. In return, Houston will receive LHP J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose and SS Jonathan Villar. A press conference is set for this afternoon.
The Astros will hold press conference re: their acquisition of LHP J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose & SS Jonathan Villar for Roy Oswalt at 4 CT.
Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle offered his brief thoughts on the trade.
Tools-driven acquisitions mean low floor, high ceiling package that will take longer than usual to evaluate. -Z
SB Nation’s Philadelphia Phillies blog, The Good Phight, seems to like the deal quite a bit.
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.
You can also reference this piece from The Crawfish Boxes, who seem content, but not excited about the trade.
Both Gose and Villar struggle with strikeouts. Both need some good coaching and repetitions on the basepaths, on defense, and at the plate. Both are young, raw players with a long way to go to reach their high ceilings.
But both could also develop into star performers—core pieces up the middle for your future Astros.
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.
UPDATE: The Astros will pay $11 million of the $23 million that is guaranteed to Roy Oswalt through 2011.