Oswalt still out there but apparently not on Amaro's radar
On the first day pitchers and catchers held workouts in Clearwater, Fla., in 2011, the Phillies put on a made-for-TV press conference when the players were through with their first official practice of the spring.
Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton sat at a table together and fielded questions about what it was like to be in a rotation that was already being regarded as one of the game's all-time best before any of them threw a pitch.
It's highly unlikely a similar show is put on within the next week, when pitchers and catchers will once again get in their first workouts of the 2012 season.
But with Oswalt still on the free agent market, the possibility wasn't as dead in the water as it seemed when he first filed for free agency after the season, when the Phillies declined a $16 million option and instead paid the veteran a $2 million buyout.
A foxsports.com report recently linked the Phillies as a team that remained in contact with Oswalt for the 2012 season. But with his team's payroll on the rise, and the luxury tax very much on the radar, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. shot down the feasibility of finding room for Oswalt in a rotation includes Halladay, Hamels, Lee, Blanton and second-year right-hander Vance Worley.
"We really don't have any room for him," Amaro told MLB.com. "We have five, six starters, and our resources are about where we want to be right now. I think he wouldn't mind coming back, but I don't know that's feasible or a real possibility."
After spending 9 1/2 seasons with the Houston Astros, Oswalt was acquired by the Phillies before the 2010 trade deadline for left-hander J.A. Happ and prospects Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar.
Oswalt went 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA for the Phillies down the stretch in 2010, but in 2011, he was limited to 23 starts, going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA, while battling a back injury.
"I think we're ready to go to Spring Training with what we have," Amaro said on the team's Website.
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