Texas Rangers pursuing Roy Oswalt
The Texas Rangers, who are viewed as the favorites for starting pitcher Roy Oswalt, are actively negotiating with the veteran per the USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
The Rangers amped up their interest ever since Neftali Feliz went down with an injury, and the strikeout artist will be out until the All-Star break. When he comes back, his control issues will likely push him into a high-leverage reliever role that he has held for the majority of his career so far.
Roy Oswalt is expected to sign by the end of the week, and it seems more and more like the Texas Rangers are the big favorite in what has become a lengthy sweepstakes for the veteran starter. The 3 WAR pitcher wants a deal worth between $5 and $7.5 million. Below is my brief analysis on how much Oswalt should be making (it will probably be a pro-rated deal, by the way).
"Since Oswalt isn’t going to drop-off from being an average No. 2 or great No. 3 starter to being a No. 4 or 5 starter, he is worth the $7.5 million that he wants. A team like the Texas Rangers or Philadelphia Phillies that already has pitching depth can afford to stay put, but a team like the O’s should take initiative.Even if Oswalt isn’t due for a little bit of good regression, a 2.5 WAR season is worth more than $7.5 million. In fact, $7.5 million equates to about 1.7 WAR on the open market.Which means, Oswalt would either have to substantially decline from a down year to an even worse year in order to be worth 1.6 WAR and make a team “lose” the deal. That isn’t inconceivable given his age, but a drop in almost a full win is pretty drastic, and Oswalt is actually projected by most people to be worth 3 WAR."
Due to the injury to Ted Lilly, the Los Angeles Dodgers are also expected to be heavily involved in what could end up being a final push to getting a deal done with Oswalt. The Dodgers are definitely the best team in the NL West, and signing Oswalt would boost their chances of staying at the top and make them the clear- perhaps, clearer- favorites to win the weak division.
Oswalt will most likely need a few weeks before he is able to pitch in the Majors, and it will likely be with the Rangers. Below is a key excerpt from Nightengale’s piece.
"The official, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing, said the team definitely wants to sign Oswalt after recently scouting him in Starkville, Miss., near his hometown of Weir."
The official sighted above is referred to in the first paragraph of the piece as a “high-ranking Rangers official”. The team is “actively negotiating” with Oswalt, and the recent reports keep indicating that the Rangers will likely sign him. But, as with any free agent sweepstakes, you never know who will emerge by the end of it and snatch the player in question.
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