Jayson Stark is reporting that Roy Oswalt will accept the trade to Philadelphia.
The deal, with the prospects unnamed beyond J.A. Happ, includes approximately $11m going to Philadelphia.
Stark:
While the Phillies prospects have not been identified, sources said the Astros have pressed hard for first baseman Jonathan Singleton, considered the team's best minor-league hitting prospect. Singleton is currently at Class A Lakewood in the South Atlantic League, where he was hitting .312 with 18 doubles and 12 home runs as of Thursday.
Also within the article, we find that the Astros may be paying Oswalt directly to drop his no-trade clause, in addition to paying the Phillies to play him.
Amy K. Nelson tweets (and here) that the Phillies will add $1 million to the 2012 buyout to compensate for waiving his no-trade clause, and to help with the added income tax. And the Phillies are also working on transferring his no-trade clause to Philly.
What does bother me, though, is the hoops the Astros are having to jump through to trade a pitcher who requested a trade two months ago to the two-time defending NL champions. That bothers me.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
