Roy Oswalt to the Phillies

[enyceman]

From MLB.com;

Summary:
Roy Oswalt is now a Phillie after the Astros acquired him for left-hander J.A. Happ, Minor League shortstop Jonathan Villar and Minor League outfielder Anthony Gose, who was then flipped to the Blue Jays for first-base prospect Brett Wallace.

My question is why couldnt AA pry away J.A Happ for Halladay who is better than Oswalt IMO...Essentially, Houston made better trades to get better players for their star pitcher. We got Taylor and flipped him for Wallace, and now Houston ends up with J.A Happ (who the Jays wanted so badly) AND Brett Wallace...

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Jays could have had Happ in the Halladay deal last year instead of Drabek; but, they wanted a controllable asset for a longer period of time.

If Drabek comes up to the Jays in May next year and sticks he's not eligible for unrestricted free agency till after 2017 season. Happ meanwhile will be an unrestricted free agent after 2014.
Happ's market value has gone down a lot in the last year. He may have a career characterized by chronic arm trouble.
In 37.2 IP in minors rehab this year he has allowed 37 hits and 19 walks.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=457918

 

[K Douglas]

Apparently the Jays were trying to get Gose in the Halladay deal last year so obviously they see something in him. He's only 19 so probably need a couple of years in the minors. They just traded arguably their top hitting prospect in Wallace. I'm willing to give AA the benefit of the doubt here, so far his moves have been pretty good. He stole Yunel Escobar from the Braves. Grand Theft.

 

[big.guy_13]

There's also the chance that the Phillies had to give up Happ this time because their best prospects had already been sent to the Blue Jays.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Brett Wallace is likely to make his major league debut in the next couple of days.
Lance Berkman, Houston's first baseman has just been traded from Houston to the Yankees; so, creates an opportunity for Brett Wallace.
----
Re. Halladay trade. Jays wanted Gose instead of Michael Taylor last year as part of package; but, Philadelphia wouldn't go for it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/sports/baseball/31berkman.html

 

[pfunkfunk]

There's also the chance that the Phillies had to give up Happ this time because their best prospects had already been sent to the Blue Jays.

The only good prospects the phillies had were obtained when they traded away cliff lee ... except for dom brown who just got called up this week to start for victorino who's hurt.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

The only good prospects the phillies had were obtained when they traded away cliff lee ... except for dom brown who just got called up this week to start for victorino who's hurt.

Cliff Lee has been traded 3 times in the last year. The only team that might have gotten a good return is Seattle.
The prospects Philly sent to Seattle to get him look like a bunch of duds if you look at their stats in minor league baseball this year.
ANd, when he was sent to Seattle last winter from Philly all the prospects that Philly got from Seattle are not playing that well in minors.

So, looking at Cliff Lee trades it looks to me that Philly got him for free from Cleveland and then gave him away free of charge to Seattle.
Seattle extracted a nice price from Texas for Cliff Lee though.

In other elite pitcher trades...

David Cone was traded from Toronto to the Yankees after the 1992 World Series and played an important role in 4 World Series wins by the Yanks. But every prospect the Jays got from the Yankees ended up being a dead end for the team.

Johan Santana was also given away free of charge from Minnesota to the Mets. All prospects the Twins got for Santana ended up being duds.

From this I guess it's safe to say it's hard to get a decent return when you trade away an elite pitcher.

 

[maurice93]

Cone was not traded to the Yanks after 1992 - he was traded to the Yanks in the middle of 1995.

The Jays did have to give up Jeff Kent to get David Cone in 1992. That was a pretty good return for the Mets although it took a while for Kent to get his career going at an elite level.

 

[Ironhead]

After the '92 season Cone was a free agent and signed with KC, his home town and the team with which he began his career. In '95 after the strike ended he was traded back to Toronto then onto the Yankees when it was apparent the Jays would not contend.