Oswalt reportedly will sit out until midseason

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One thing that's become abundantly clear this offseason: Roy Oswalt really doesn't want to play for the Red Sox.

It looks like Oswalt is going to announce sometime today that he plans to stay unemployed until midseason, when -- as Roger Clemens did in 2006 and '07 and as Curt Schilling once pondered doing in '08 -- he may auction himself off to the highest bidder. This decision apparently was sparked by the dual facts that a) the two teams he wants to play for (the Cardinals and Astros) don't want himcan't afford him, at least not now, and b) the team that wants him (the Red Sox, albeit at their price), he wants no part of.

Hardball Talk's Craig Calcaterra approves:

To be honest, it may be his most lucrative one. Every team thinks they have a decent rotation now. Such is the nature of February. When reality intrudes, however, and clubs are holding their rotations together with bailing wire and chewing gum, Roy Oswalt is going to look like a pretty damn good option.
Probably true. And it's a good career move . . . almost as good as the decision to stay out of a hitter's ballpark (Fenway Park) in the offense-happy A.L. East at age 34.

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