PHILADELPHIA, Pa. —
There’s a new Roy in town — and he’s an ace, too.
Three-time All-Star Roy Oswalt gave his OK to a trade from Houston to Philadelphia on Thursday, becoming the latest star pitcher to join the hard-charging Phillies.
After getting Roy Halladay in the offseason, the two-time defending NL champions got Oswalt and a sizable amount of cash from the Astros for pitcher J.A. Happ and two speedy prospects, outfielder Anthony Gose and shortstop Jonathan Villar. Houston then traded Gose to Toronto.
Oswalt joins a rotation that includes Halladay, acquired from Toronto in the offseason, and Cole Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP. Oswalt is scheduled to make his debut for the Phillies on Friday night, starting at Washington.
“We’re trying to do what we can to get back to the World Series and win it,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “To have Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay and additionally Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick, we stack ourselves up as one of the best rotations in baseball.”
This was the second straight year the Phillies made a major trade for a pitcher in the days leading up to the July 31 deadline. Last season, they got Cliff Lee and he boosted them to another NL pennant — Lee was then sent to Seattle in a separate deal on the same day the Phillies acquired Halladay.
“I’m excited,” Halladay said. “It says a lot that this team is dedicated to winning.”
The Phillies took a seven-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game against Arizona. Philadelphia began the day 3½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.
St. Louis also had been bargaining for Oswalt. He had a no-trade clause in his contract and could decide whether to accept any deal.
“He’s pretty excited about coming here,” Amaro said. “The fact that Roy came to Philadelphia with really no great demand, that says something about the guy.”
Oswalt, who spent his entire career with Houston, requested a trade in May.
“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,” Astros general manager Ed 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.”
Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who played with Oswalt in Houston, spoke to his former teammate for about 20 minutes on Wednesday night.
“He wanted to know about Philadelphia and the city,” Lidge said. “I told him it’s been great. Since I’ve been here, it’s been one of the more unbelievable things I’ve ever seen. I don’t think he needed a lot of selling on the idea. He wanted to play for a winner.
“It was probably going to happen anyway. Philly sells itself right now. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what we’re doing and what we’ve done. This is where you want to be if you want to get a ring.”
The 32-year-old Oswalt was 6-12 despite a 3.24 ERA for Houston. The Astros were shut out in five of his 20 starts.
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A person with knowledge of the deal says Houston ace Roy Oswalt has agreed to waive his no-trade clause and accept a swap to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. Gene J. Puskar
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Astros trade ace pitcher Oswalt to Phillies
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