12/10 Ortiz
Roy Oswalt has been watching the Astros’ moves this winter. He even discussed the team’s budget concerns with general manager Ed Wade and owner Drayton McLane, which is why he’s willing to restructure his contract …
“We need another starter,” Oswalt said via phone from Mississippi on Wednesday.
“I’ve got four more years to try to win something,” said Oswalt. “They haven’t approached me about it, but I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Actually, I told Ed Wade that we could redo my contract if we could go out and get another starter.” Link
12/13 Footer
McLane said he has not talked to Oswalt personally, deferring to general manager Ed Wade, who originally received the message from Oswalt that he would be willing to shift some salary …
“It would be a No. 1 or No. 2 pitcher, and that’s just not in the cards right now,” McLane said via mobile phone. Link
Footer explains debt “(Roy) will get every last cent of the $47 million coming to him between now and 2011. So if you shift his annual allotment around and pay him $5 million in ’09 instead of $14, then you’ll have to add that extra $9 million on later. So do you pay him $24 million in 2010? Or $25 million in 2011? Or split it among the two years? And what does that do to the payroll then?” Link
Grocer hates debt “It’s not appropriate,” he said. “It’s like using a credit card. It catches up with you at some point. It doesn’t solve any problems, and it can really hurt you in ensuing years.” Link
Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt were in Las Vegas last week — not to attend the annual winter baseball meetings, but to watch a rodeo. Link
Las Vegas becomes “Cowboy Central” during the first two weeks of December as the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo makes its annual 10-day run here.
The event is one of the toughest tickets in sports, with performances often selling out a year or more in advance and more than 18,000 fans per night packing the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus…. Link