Well it's not going to work, alright! Because I said the biggest thing holding this deal up was the economics of Oswalt's insistence on having his 2012 option picked up and 16 million, which espn.com is reporting they ultimately did not have to do. Oswalt's desire to leave the Bermuda Triangle was powerful enough that he agreed not to have the option picked up by the Phillies, who will instead pay him a 2 million dollar buyout.
In exchange for Oswalt, The Phillies sent pitcher J.A. Happ and 2 prospects, outfielder Anthony Gose and shortstop Jonathan Villar to Houston with a significant amount of cash. At first glance this seems like a great deal for the Phillies. Not only did they not give up their best prospect, outfielder Domonic Brown, they also will reportedly get an extra 11 million dollars from Houston to help pay for Oswalt's pro-rated 2010 salary and his 2011 salary, totaling around 23 million. So essentially, the Phillies get a year and a half of Oswalt for 12 million, well below market value for a pitcher still in his prime.
The deal did not appear great for the Astros, but they did immediately ship Gose off to Toronto for 3B prospect Brett Wallace, a player Baseball America ranked the 27th best prospect in baseball. Currently, Wallace is hitting .301 with 18 home-runs in triple-A. Happ, a lefty who works in the low-90's, was a darling of the Phillie faithful last year when he posted a 2.93 ERA, but he didn't miss a ton of bats, and his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of 4.33 was uninspired. Happ's 2010 has been mired with injury, and his 1.76 ERA doesn't go well with the 5.17 FIP he has (small sample size of 15 innings, I know). Overall, looks like the Phillies did well, for this season and the next.
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