Craig Calcaterra knows a guy who knows a guy who says that the Rangers and Astros are working on a deal to send Roy to Arlington. Hopefully after this weekend.
A major league source is telling me that the Rangers have been talking to the Astros about Roy Oswalt and that the teams are "getting closer" to having a deal in place. It's not yet clear which player(s) would be coming back from Texas to Houston, but my understanding is that the live bodies part of the deal is more or less agreed to.
There are some major sticking points to this. Mainly, will U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Lynn approve the sale of the Rangers to the Ryan-Greenberg group? And this is not a slam dunk decision. If he does, then I would imagine Roy is a Ranger. If not, this could be dragging on until the end of July. If so, it still may drag on, but at least everyone involved will be happy(-ier).
And then Buster Olney (and here) refutes the report:
Highly placed source on the Oswalt-to-Rangers-in-the-works report: "Nothing to it." Given their financial situation, it would be hard for them to think about taking the most expensive starter in what is a flush market of starting pitching.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
