More pessimism about trading Roy

Jayson Stark's new Rumblings and Grumblings column spends plenty of time discussing the possibility of trading Roy:

We sense increasing pessimism out there that the Astros will be able to find a team willing to take on all of Oswalt's money and give up three centerpiece players to get him next month. But keeping him could be trouble for this team, too. If he still finds himself in Houston after the deadline, scouts who have cringed at Oswalt's body language so far are beginning to wonder if he'll be able to keep his sanity.

"Every time he goes out there," said one scout, "he's basically telling you, 'I'm finished here.' He's frustrated, and he's making it very obvious to everyone."

Meanwhile, J.P. Ricciardi posted his take on how to go about trading Roy:

First, the Astros need to bring Oswalt in, sit him down, and decide as an organization if this is something they want to do. If the answer is no, then they simply need to tell Oswalt, "As a unified front office and ownership group, we don't want to trade you and we're not going to look to trade you." End of conversation.

But if the organization is willing to explore the possibility of a trade, then the Astros have to make Oswalt and his agent a big part of the process. Oswalt's full no-trade clause is a huge hurdle here. If Houston fielded serious offers from other teams but Oswalt didn't want to go to those clubs, he could kill the trade discussion. So if the Astros hurler wants the team to deal him, he needs to be flexible about waiving his no-trade clause to more than three or four teams.