This is flight of fancy type stuff, but apparently Houston Astros starter Roy Oswalt, who is off to a bit of a tough start with a 2-3 record and 6.00 ERA thus far this season, has become embroiled in trade rumors involving the New York Yankees over the last few days.

Oswalt will be 31 this season, has logged a whole lot of innings on a small-ish frame over the last six seasons and hitters are teeing him up to the tune of a .325 batting average -- and that's not even mentioining the $14 million per year he's owed over the next 5 seasons. But in this Houston Chronicle blog piece, Oswalt finally sets the record straight and says the only three locations he would approve trades to would be the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. YThe anks, apparently, need not apply.

Oswalt was a name on the block for the Sox back in 2006 at the trading deadline when the Yanks nabbed Bobby Abreu, so there is a past interest from Theo Epstein and Red Sox ownership if the right-hander again becomes available amid the Astros struggles this season.

The questions remains: what would the cost be for a guy who has logged 200 innings in five of the last six seasons and is a two-time 20-game winner.

Something to think about anyway...

Also, in a little bit of Haggs housekeeping, I'm still hoping to get to the Johnny Damon interview I did but I've run into some technical difficulties. The best part was Damon recalling a conversation he had with Jacoby Ellsbury in 2005 where Damon basically told his speedy "mini-me" to come get his centerfield/leadoff job while Damon was still in Red Stockings approaching free agency. Also, Damon deflected comparisons between himself and Ellsbury because he was never entirely comfortable with comparisons to Kirk Gibson that he fought through when he was a young up-and-comer.

Anyway here's the blog entry from Jose Jesus De Ortiz which I've cut and pasted a portion of below.




Well, here's the deal, Oswalt would accept the trade, but only if asked.

"Why would anybody want to stay if the team don't want you?" he said today.

Asked about the rumors.

"I don't know where that came from," he said. "I don't know where he got that from, left field somewhere."

Is it a compliment?

"I don't know if it's a compliment. I don't know if he just brought it up or he heard it from there. The whole thing last year was (to answer a question stating) if management came to you and asked you would you approve a trade. That (would) just go to show that a team don't want you. Why wouldn't you. If a team doesn't want you to play there, why wouldn't you approve a team."

Oswalt makes clear the Astros haven't asked.

"They haven't yet. No," he said.

I know Oswalt better than any player on that club. That's not to say I know him tremendously because you never really, really know the players. But I'd put my working relationship with this guy against anybody in America.

Believe what you want, but I'll tell you there are three teams he'll accept a trade to, and those teams aren't in New York. They aren't the Yankees. They aren't the Mets.

They are the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox.

Even then, though, the Astros would have to admit they're not going to contend and then ask him to leave before he takes a trade. Oh, and he also would demand to remake the contract and get the type of money Johan Santana got from the Mets. There's the truth for you.