Astros: Reviewing the 2010 Roy Oswalt trade with Phillies

We take a look back at the 2010 trade in which the Houston Astros sent Roy Oswalt to the Phillies.

Trading a franchise cornerstone and one of your all-time greatest players is never an easy thing to do. But the 2010 Houston Astros, on their way to a second consecutive losing season and fifth straight season missing the playoffs, finally realized they needed to rebuild. Thus came the trade of longtime ace Roy Oswalt.

Just before the trade deadline on July 29, the Astros sent Oswalt to the Phillies in exchange for outfielder Anthony Gose, pitcher J.A. Happ and infielder Jonathan Villar. GM Ed Wade immediately flipped Gose to Toronto for first baseman Brett Wallace, so we’ll treat these as one overall move.

This trade was a big barometer for both teams. If the Astros nailed it, they could shorten their rebuild and get back into contention sooner. If they missed the mark, it would only take longer to get back into the hunt with a solid young core of players.

The Phillies had won the World Series in 2008 and lost the Series in 2009. Their core was aging, so grabbing Oswalt was their attempt to win another title or two before their window closed. They were hoping to establish a mini-dynasty in the city of brotherly love.

When the dust settled, the Phillies got a major boost to their pitching staff as they prepared to make another playoff run. The Astros came away with three promising young players they hoped to build around for the future. Which team fared better?

What the Astros Gave Up

The Astros lost a player who’d been one of the biggest keys to their success since his debut in 2001. Oswalt went 143-82 with a 3.24 ERA in 10 seasons in Houston with three All-Star selections and six top-six finishes in the Cy Young voting. He was one of the faces of the franchise and was just one win away from tying Joe Niekro for the most in club history.

At the time of the trade, he had a 3.42 ERA in 20 starts, though his 6-12 record reflected how poorly his team played behind him. After the trade, he kicked it up a few notches, similar to how Justin Verlander did when the Astros acquired him in 2017.

Oswalt went 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA in 12 starts and one relief appearance down the stretch for Philly. He also put up a 1.84 ERA in two starts and one relief appearance in the NLCS, but the Phillies lost anyway. He certainly had playoff pedigree, having won the 2005 NLCS MVP award with Houston.

Under contract for one additional season, he made 23 starts in 2011 and went 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA. He made a subpar start in the division series as the Phillies were bounced from the playoffs again, and thus ended his tenure. All told, he gave the team 5.4 WAR in his regular season work in 2010 and 2011.

While he might have been on track for the Hall of Fame, those chances evaporated along with his effectiveness after leaving the Phillies. He signed on with the Rangers for 2012, but struggled to a 5.80 ERA in 59 innings in what was his age-34 season. He was worse in 2013, going 0-6 with an 8.63 ERA in 32.1 innings with the Rockies before calling it quits.

What the Astros Got

Happ, who at age 27 was no longer a prospect, nonetheless had some intrigue. The left-hander was 14-5 with a 3.11 ERA in 31 starts and 16 relief appearances in his major league career. He’d been worth 5.1 WAR to the Phillies in parts of four seasons.

He did not have the same success in Houston, however. He was solid after the trade in 2010, going 5-4 with a 3.75 ERA in 13 starts. But his 2011 season saw him work to a 5.35 ERA in 28 starts, and he posted a 4.83 ERA in 18 starts in 2012 before the club traded him to Toronto in the deal that brought Joe Musgrove to Houston.

Happ bounced around a while before ending up back in Toronto and putting together a 20-win season in 2016. He won 17 games in a 2018 split between the Blue Jays and Yankees, but pitched to a 4.91 ERA for New York in 2019. In his time with the Astros, Happ was worth -0.2 WAR.

Villar made his major league debut with the Astros in 2013 and played a part-time or backup role in parts of three seasons. He never quite put it all together, posting a .236/.300/.353 line in 198 games. Of course, once the club traded him to Milwaukee in Nov. 2015 for Cy Sneed, he broke out.

He discovered some solid power and hit .285/.369/.457 with 38 doubles, 19 homers and 62 steals for the Brewers in 2016. His next two seasons were less effective, but he broke out again as the Orioles’ second baseman in 2019, playing in all 162 games and hitting .274/.339/.453 with 33 doubles, 24 homers and 40 steals. He was worth 1.3 WAR for the Astros and 4.5 WAR for the Brewers.

Finally we get to Wallace, who was the first in a long line of prospect busts at the first base position for Houston. Jon Singleton and A.J. Reed would follow, but Wallace was the first. He was a former first-round pick but never could hit enough in the majors, compiling a .242/.313/.391 line with 29 homers in four seasons before the Astros released him. He caught on with the Padres for a couple of seasons but couldn’t stick there either. He was worth -0.2 WAR in Houston.