He's still out there, sitting in free agency. The best Astros pitcher of the past decade is available for anyone who can sign him. What's more, all it would take is a one-year contract.
Did you know Roy Oswalt's 2.5 fWAR would have easily been the highest on Houston's staff last season? And that was despite RoyO missing time with a back injury and generally having one of his worst seasons overall?
Did you know that only needs two more victories to take over the franchise lead? Yeah, you probably knew that.
Did I mention he's only looking for a one-year deal?
There are plenty of reasons why this won't work. Roy is looking for a contender and would probably balk at signing with a 100-loss team, even if it was the team he grew up with. The Astros can't really add payroll and it will probably cost more to get Roy on a one-year deal than they have banked up. Even if Houston trades away Brett Myers and Wandy, the Astros have plenty of younger, cheaper candidates to fill out the rotation and the difference between their production and Roy's wouldn't be enough to justify signing him.
And still he sits out there, taunting me with his very unsigned presence.
Could I make an argument that signing him would be a good think?
One - The Astros are having attendance problems. Bringing back a franchise icon after trading away so many would be a great thing for filling up the ballpark.
Two - A competitor like Oswalt could help young players like Jordan Lyles become better. Remember how many lessons Oswalt himself said he picked up from Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte? Roy could bring that same thing to this team.
Three - You'd keep him away from both St. Louis and Texas.
I know, that last one is a bit flimsy. In fact, all of them are pretty simplistic and don't really make sense for this team. Roy would provide an attendance bump early, but would people go to see him in June or July after the newness wore off. What if he gets hurt?
As much as I'd like Roy to make one last trip through Houston, the practical side of my baseball brain says it's not going to happen. Seeing him out there just keeps nagging at my irrational side.