Jayson Stark has some rumors for you today:
A source familiar with the Roy Oswalt talks tells Rumblings they're "going nowhere" at the moment. And there are increasing questions at this point as to whether Oswalt is going to get traded, period, unless the price drops considerably. As we reported yesterday, the Astros have asked teams for four players -- one front-line young player off the big league roster, two high-end prospects and one second-tier prospect. And at this point, said one source, "nobody is even close..."
One Club Official (who apparently checked on Roy, was farted on, and stopped being interested):
"The dynamics in Houston are different. Seattle was motivated to trade Cliff Lee. Arizona was motivated to trade Dan Haren. I don't really know how motivated Drayton is to move Roy Oswalt. I think he was trying to do this as a favor to Roy. But now he's got the agent [Bob Garber] trying to direct it and dictate terms. And I can promise you that ticks Drayton off to no end. So I just don't know how motivated he is to do it at this point."
So now the Dodgers are looking into Ted Lilly, but "seem to be waiting on pursuing Lilly hard until they determine first whether they can deal for Oswalt."
A new wrinkle in the rumor mill: The Padres have been linked, by Stark, to Jeff Keppinger.
With Tommy Manzella nearing - kind of - his return from the DL, hot-hitting Angel Sanchez could slide over to 2B. Sure, Sanchez has 737 minor-league starts at SS, but he has made 67 starts - not a lot, granted - at 2B.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
