It is official Roy Oswalt has waived his no trade clause and is now apart of the Philadelphia Phillies. Everyone has been guessing for the last several weeks where Oswalt would land after he publicly declared that he wished to be traded
The veteran pitches was dealt to the Phillies in exchange for left-handed starter J.A. Happ and two prospects, outfielder Anthony Gose and shortstop Jonathan Villar. Oswalt spoke on how he was happy that both teams benefited from the deal and how he was happy he was going to a contender. The ace picher spoke about this saying:
“The hardest part about it is cleaning out my locker. I’ve been in the same place for 10 years and having to say goodbye and clean out the locker is the toughest part,”
Astros owner Ed Wade thanked Oswalt for his time with the Astros.
“We salute what Roy did for the organization and the contributions that he made here over the course of his career in an Astros uniform and his profile here is significant,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, we have to do what’s best for the Houston Astros. You can’t make a deal like this as a favor to a player. In this case I think we served everybody’s purposes with what we did.”
Oswalt was suppossed to make his next start with the Astros on Friday but will now be flying to Washington Thursday and will make his debut on Friday. Phillies players showed their pleasure with the trade such as fellow pitcher Halladay who said. “It says a lot that this team is dedicated to winning.” This is a good trade for both teams and will help the Phillies make it back to the playoffs. Oswalt is 143-82 with a 3.24 ERA for his career and is a great addition to the team.