Roy-O a little miffed about trade rumors

Link & Link

Both must reads if you're an Astros fan.  Alyson Footer does a nice job on both articles in my opinion.

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Just jot it down as shotty journalism...  Of course we as fans will never know if Roy was actually offered by the Astros to the Orioles in a package deal to acquire Miguel Tejada.  Tim Purpura stated yesterday on the radio(ESPN790.com) to Charlie Pallilo that Roy was never offered by the Astros and that his name was only mentioned by other teams wanting to get him.  He also mentioned Astros owner Drayton McLane never demanded Purpura to trade Brad Lidge.  I have to believe someone, so I have to side with my team and believe Purpura. 

All these reports have done is hurt two of the Astros key players...  now Roy is looking even more forward to being a free agent and testing those waters, and Brad Lidge is "...relieved and kind of upset" about hearing his name in trade rumors and hearing that he was "demanded to be traded." 

"We'll see how it turns out," Oswalt said. "I could play the whole year out and then not get an offer at the end of the year. Why not play another year and listen to other teams?"

Hopefully the Astros will take this and give Roy the 5 year deal he wants...  Say 5 years in the 60-75 million range and give him a no trade clause just to show him that the Astros want him to retire as an Astro.  He's a top notch pitcher that any team would want...  If you try to sign him once he's a free agent and he has teams like the Yankee's trying to outbid you on him, your chances of signing him drastically decrease...  Sign him now while he's still under contract for a year or so and wrap him up for 5 years. 

"They say I'm a franchise player, just like Lance [Berkman]. If I'm just like Lance, treat me like Lance."

I completely agree...  They should treat you like Lance. 

"Tell me up front. Since no deal went through, it's easy to say, 'We weren't going to trade you.'

"One thing about me. I'm never going to lie to you. I don't want to be lied to. Don't talk outside one side of your mouth and say something else."

Ouch!  We definitely have some hurt feelings here...

For what it's worth, if the Astros weren't offering him as a trade, they really had no reason to go to Roy and say, hey we're not going to trade you to the Orioles since it wasn't even an option(presented by the Astros).  Since the Astros have a policy of not spreading trade rumors, they had no reason to believe that he was under the impression that he was being offered as trade bait...  Unfortunately not every team has the same morals as the Astros... Stupid yellow birds...  Lucky for you we don't have many Orioles in Texas, or I might have to find my pellet gun(kidding of course).  As you can tell by these last two quotes by Roy... he's definitely not happy.  Hope the Astros can mend this wound fast.  Roy has already publicly stated that he's frustrated with the Astros lack of run support, stating earlier in the season how after he gave up 3 runs, he felt the game was out of reach.  Not a great mind set for the ace of your staff.

Said Oswalt: "There are two sides of baseball. The business side and sometimes you get involved to where it's family-oriented. You get reminded that mostly, it's a business."

We were all reminded of this during the Bagwell saga during the off season.  It ***** that the business can't be run like a small family owned business... but most small family owned businesses don't have employees making 22,000,000.22 million dollars a year either.. 

Lidge on the other hand... maybe these trade rumors will light a fire under his tail and get him to being "Lights Out" again instead of "Lit Up" like he has been lately. 

"But maybe in a way that will hopefully help me. I have a lot to prove now and it's time to make it work. I can use it as motivation."

That's a good way to look at it Lidge.