Lance Berkman trying to walk a fine line in talking about an uneasy situation:
“I understand where he’s coming from. But we signed a contract here, they made a long-term commitment to us, and now that things are bad – you know what I’m saying? And I don’t think Roy has necessarily come out and demanded to be traded. I think his whole point is, if there’s some interest from other teams, I would be willing to do something. So maybe it’s semantics. But I still feel like as long as Roy’s here, he’s going to give us everything he’s got. I don’t think he’s jumping ship or anything." “But I understand where he’s coming from. You get older, and the motivation to come to the ballpark gets less and less, especially if you’re not playing on a team you feel like has a chance.”
Michael Bourn on Oswalt's desire to be traded and Berkman's willingness to be traded:
“I know they’re frustrated with the way things are going. But I just hope that they don’t give up on us, because we’re not going to give up on them. I never give up on whoever’s on the mound or whoever’s out there. I’m just going to always have their back, whether I’m here for one year or 10 years. I know they want to be on a winning team; we all do. I do too. Nobody who plays any sport wants to be on a losing team. But you’ve got to stick through the rough edges. These are the rough times right now. You’ve just got to stick to them. There’s good times coming.”
Jim Deshaies, former Astros LHP and long time television broadcaster for the team, adds some perspective to Oswalt's request to be traded:
“It’s almost a win/win for the club. If you keep him and he pitches well, you have a chance to win more games. And if you trade him, you get presumably good prospects in return, and you don’t take that P.R. hit for trading a franchise icon because he came out and said, ‘I want to be traded.’ The club says, ‘We know people love him, he’s done great things for us, been a hero for us, but we accommodated his desire to be traded.’ ”
They all make valid points, but I especially appreciate the commentary from JD. The fact that Roy asked for a trade, should he ultimately be traded, could quell much of the presumed outrage the team would receive for trading a team icon. "We accommodated his desire to be traded" could go a long way towards pleasing the unwashed masses...