Roy Oswalt Rumors: Teams Questioning Oswalt’s Desire to Pitch
The Roy Oswalt saga has been strange from the beginning. How could a pitcher with the track record of Oswalt not find a contract this offseason? Was it all based on his back injury? Luckily for us, Nick Carfado of the Boston Globe shed light on the situation during his always fantastic Sunday feature. According to Carfado, Oswalt remaining available late into February may have more to do with his perceived frame of mind than his back or monetary requests.
Carfado spoke with a National League general manager who told him that most teams viewed Oswalt as a worthy gamble for $5-7 million this offseason. Even with his back injury and age, teams would likely extend this type of offer to a pitcher the caliber of Oswalt.
Only Oswalt made things a bit more difficult for potential suitors by making requests. Most of these had to do with where Oswalt would be playing as well as how much money he would require. This is nothing new; players make demands based on money and coastal/regional preference all the time.
But, according to Carfado’s unnamed GM, this time was different. The way Oswalt and his agent, Bob Garber, handled negotiations this offseason have some teams questioning Oswalt’s desire to pitch. Carfado’s source indicated that, while everyone knew about Oswalt’s back problems, “the thing that bothered teams was that all of a sudden, he wanted to be closer to home and wanted to start picking and choosing where he wanted to be”. This has apparently caused “a lot of people” to feel that Oswalt lost the “desire to pitch that he used to have”.
Obviously baseball executives and scouts have a lot more invested in their opinions than I do. That being said, it’s hard to argue with Oswalt’s rationale. As I’ve said before, if you thought there was a real possibility you could work for half the year and earn your same annual salary, wouldn’t you give it a shot?
While the logic makes sense to me, it also could cause teams to view Oswalt as less than the gamer he was thought to be before this offseason. It will be interesting to see how this reported belief impacts Oswalt and his quest to sign on his terms.
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