Jeff Wilson reports that a Rangers source has suggested that the team's trade talks with the Oakland A's and others involving Koji Uehara could to the extra cash necessary for Texas to make a serious bid (which they haven't yet done) for Roy Oswalt.
↵↵↵Oswalt and the Rangers met last month to get a feel for where each side stood. The Rangers were looking for a pitcher who could work in relief while also serving as a piece of insurance in case a starting pitcher were to suffer an injury. At the time, Oswalt informed the club that he did not want to work out of the bullpen.
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They would have to work out the starting/relieving thing, but money does seem to be a legitimate sticking point either way. T.R. Sullivan says that the Rangers want multiple prospects for Uehara, and one would have to assume that they want most if not all of his $4 million contract picked up. Sullivan also says that team sources "don't know" if they will be able to trade him, and he suggests that the goal may be Mike Gonzalez rather than Oswalt.
↵Before we go any further on that front, we should remember that these are Jon Daniels' Rangers, a team who almost always makes moves from out of the blue, particularly in the offseason. High level folks with solid information are not going to be tossing around information that could uncover the team's intentions.
↵The Rangers dealt Tommy Hunter and Chris Davis to Baltimore for Uehara in July, as the Orioles favored players who could help out their team immediately. Wilson suggests that the Rangers could ask for a utility guy like Adam Rosales in the deal, but a deal similar to the one in which they dealt Jarrod Saltalamacchia to Boston - Texas received two low ceiling prospects in Chris McGuiness and Michael Thomas and one lower level, high upside arm in Roman Mendez - makes the most sense.