Smilin' Ken Rosenthal has a source who apparently knows some things:
Berkman "in play," discussions taking place. Deal far from guaranteed. Berkman, like Oswalt, has full no-trade.
ESPN's Rumor Central lists three potential destinations for Lance:
This could mean the Astros are looking to move Lance Berkman before Saturday's deadline, with the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants as potential landing spots for the switch hitting veteran, who has a no-trade clause.
The Angels just lost out on Derrek Lee, who wouldn't waive his no-trade clause to leave Chicago, but perhaps Berkman would.
But again, maybe he wouldn't. Back on June 16, Berkman told Yahoo's Jeff Passan (regarding approving a trade):
"That wouldn’t be an automatic yes. That would be a long, hard thought. Especially because I’d rather go east than west. It would have to be a contender. There is absolutely no way I would consent to going somewhere that didn’t have a good chance not just to get to the playoffs, but to win the whole thing. That would be consideration No. 1."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
