Roy Oswalt expected to sign soon

Veteran starting pitcher Roy Oswalt will likely be a free agent no more by the end of this week. Baseball insider Jon Heyman tweeted that “folks” (most likely “baseball people”) say that a deal will happen this week and end the long saga.

Oswalt received an offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers and is looking for a pro-rated $7.5 million deal. The Baltimore Orioles are in the mix, as well as the Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox.

The Dodgers and Orioles have the biggest need for a pitcher of Oswalt’s quality, as both teams are looking to get that push. The Dodgers are in an easy division and are playing great baseball thus far, so adding Oswalt will help their chances at winning the division.

The Texas Rangers have starting pitching depth, but they could use a quality arm like Roy Oswalt. Even so, pursuing him would give them a huge surplus of pitchers and might not be the best idea. However, the Rangers are considered the favorites right now.

The Los Angeles Angels could be an interesting darkhorse in the race to add Oswalt, but it depends on the severity of Jered Weaver‘s results. The Angels showed interest in him in late March, so that could be something to keep an eye on.

Excerpt from a piece I wrote detailing why Roy Oswalt is worth $7.5 million.

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.

Something I wrote arguing as to why the Baltimore Orioles should pursue him.

Look, Baltimore needs to add another pitcher they have want to have a legitimate shot. They owe it to the fan base to try and go after a $7.5 million vet for one year to help boost their rotation. The worst thing that happens is they miss the playoffs but end up being a few wins better because they added a quality starting pitcher worth around three wins.