It isn't often that you see a trade welcomed by both sides. Ordinarily, only one side will be happy, or at least happier, and trades tend to be evaluated by who won and who lost. Still, today's trade of Roy Oswalt from Houston to Philadelphia has been received well by fans of each team. We first check in with our friends at The Good Phight:

If that sounds like a good deal for the Phillies, that's because it is.  J.A. Happ is a nice pitcher, Gose has tremendous potential, and Villar is emerging as an intriguing infield prospect, but the Phillies really just got an ace-quality starting pitcher to slot behind Roy Halladay in the rotation, at a huge discount, through 2011. 

Oswalt's 2012 option has also apparently been converted into a "mutual" option.  More on this as we learn about it.

So here we are: Roy Oswalt.  Welcome to Philadelphia!

And as for The Crawfish Boxes?

If there's one thing we've learned about Ed Wade's and Bobby Heck's direction for our farm system, it's that they love speed and defense in position player prospects.  I don't necessarily agree with that focus; I prefer on-base percentage and power, in terms of bang-for-buck.  However, I'm glad that they have a philosophy and a plan, and that they stick to their guns.
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Is this a great return for Oswalt?  No.  But it's not terrible.  The Astros get a piece to help them now, and some pieces with huge potential.  Give these players a chance and let's see how it goes.

The general consensus around baseball appears to be that the Phillies come out as big winners here, as they gained a big piece without surrendering any building blocks. The Astros, though, didn't exactly come away with nothing, so more power to them if they like what they got.

I hope Anthony Gose didn't buy a plane ticket or anything, because after coming over to the Astros from the Phillies, he's flying back north. Way north.

#Astros sending Gose to #BlueJays for IF Brett Wallace. #MLB

The Blue Jays got Michael Taylor from the Phillies in the Roy Halladay trade and flipped him to Oakland for Wallace, so it's funny how this is all connected. First baseman Wallace entered the year as one of Baseball America's top prospects in the country, but he's failed to build on last year's success while spending half his time in a very hitter-friendly environment in AAA Las Vegas, and questions about as to the soon-to-be 24 year old's future position. His stock has fallen an awful long way.

Todd Zolecki reports that the Roy Oswalt trade to Philadelphia is complete, with Houston getting J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose, and Jonathan Villar in return. Todd Zolecki also reports the following:

Roy Oswalt will pitch tomorrow night for the Phillies in DC against the Nationals.

Oswalt was penciled in for a Friday start with Houston anyway, so this in no way affects his schedule. He will assume Happ's place in the rotation, and tomorrow will oppose Craig Stammen in Nationals Park.

Just to make things a little more official, but still unofficial, Roy Oswalt has agreed to waive his no-trade clause to go to Philadelphia:

Roy Oswalt has approved a trade to the Phillies, a baseball source confirmed, but the Astros are still waiting to hear back from the Phillies on completing a deal.

Ken Rosenthal fills us in on how his 2012 option situation will play out:

Oswalt option for '12 actually mutual option. With trade, buyout will increase from 1M to 2M if Phillies pick up option and Oswalt declines, becoming FA instead. Buyout will remain 1M if he simply opts out on his own.

A mutual option is an option to which both parties must agree in order for the option to vest.

The trade isn't yet official, but it's the nearest it's ever been.

So much for Vance Worley. Says Ken Rosenthal:

The players in the Oswalt deal, which is still not official: J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose, SS Jonathan Villan.

Note that that's a typo, and his name is actually Jonathan Villar. Villar is a 19 year old shortstop with A-ball Lakewood, who's hit .272/.332/.358 with 38 stolen bases. He's known for his defense and his subpar plate discipline has been exposed against Sally League competition, but he's still managed to hold his own as a teenager, and is a fringe top-10 organizational prospect.

So, Happ, Villar, and Gose, with the Astros picking up a substantial part of Oswalt's salary. From where I sit, this is looking like a real win for the Phillies.

It was reported earlier that the Phillies would offer Roy Oswalt compensation in return for not having to exercise his $16m 2012 option. That compensation?

Filed to ESPN.com: Source says Phils will add $1m to buyout of 2012 option, to compensate for waiving of no-trade & added income tax #trades

Previously, the buyout was $2m. It seems like this trade should become official at any moment.

We already knew that J.A. Happ would be part of the package to land Roy Oswalt. Jim Salisbury gives us another name:

Gose and Happ are definite, sources say.

Gose is a soon-to-be 20 year old center fielder who's hit .263/.325/.385 with A+ Clearwater. He runs very well, having stolen 76 bases a year ago and having hit 11 triples already this season, and he has defensive upside in the middle. As a groundball hitter, though, his power potential is extremely limited, and he strikes out a lot, with 103 whiffs against just 32 walks in 461 trips to the plate. He profiles a lot like another Michael Bourn, but he's still a ways away.

Right now, it seems that the package will end up being Happ, Gose, and the previously-named Vance Worley.

One of the big sticking points in the whole Roy Oswalt saga has been his $16m 2012 option. Oswalt had said for a while that, if he was to be traded, he wanted his new team to pick up that option. There aren't a lot of teams who felt like committing that much money if they didn't have to. However, while that may have been troublesome before, Ken Rosenthal reports that the Phillies and Oswalt have reached some sort of resolution:

Sources: Deal still not done. "Indications favorable," details remain. 2012 option will NOT be exercised. (More)
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Oswalt will be compensated for waiving no-trade in some other way.

At this point we can only guess how Oswalt will be compensated, but the Phillies will likely be happy to do anything other than guarantee him $16m in two years.

Alas, we've apparently cleared the last major hurdle. Reports Jayson Stark:

Roy Oswalt plans to OK deal to #Phillies, source says. But deal not official yet. More to come on ESPN.com #trades

With the players settled, the money settled, and the matter of Oswalt's no-trade clause settled, everything's in place for the long-time Astros ace to head to Philadelphia. All that should be left now is dotting some i's, crossing some t's, and maybe some physical examinations.

Roy Oswalt may have preferred St. Louis, but ultimately, it seems he's just happy to go to a contender. The Braves and the NL Wild Card contenders are raising their eyebrows, intrigued and concerned.

Some semi-conflicting info is coming out about the prospects going to Houston in the Roy Oswalt Trade. Says Jayson Stark:

While the Phillies prospects have not been identified, sources said the Astros have pressed hard for first baseman Jonathan Singleton, considered the team's best minor-league hitting prospect.

But adds Ken Rosenthal:

Hearing A) Singleton not in deal and B) #Phillies getting less than 12M, though number is in that range. Educated guess: 10-11M

Singleton is an 18 year old first baseman in A-ball, where he's hit .312/.418/.526 on the year with 12 home runs and as many walks as strikeouts. He's a pretty good young prospect, and a pretty good young prospect who doesn't appear to be involved in this deal.

So we're back to Matt Rizzotti and Vance Worley. We'll see where it goes from here.

Roy Oswalt wants to pitch in the World Series. The Astros are not going to make the World Series. From this mismatch came, essentially, a trade demand. And now, after weeks of rumors linking the Houston hurler to both the Cardinals and Phillies, it seems that a deal with Philadelphia is all but done. All that is left is for Oswalt to sign off on it.

But should he? That's the question SB Nation's Astros blog, Crawfish Boxes, asks. If Oswalt's top priority really is pitching in the Fall Classic, which team between the Cardinals and Phillies gives him the best chance? After running through some SABR models, the answer is, unsurprisingly, the Cardinals. Not including a potential Oswalt addition, St. Louis has roughly a 66 per cent chance of making the postseason (averaging a few different methods), while Philadelphia is about half that at 32 per cent.

Of course, if Oswalt's goal is to gain baseball immortality, the Phillies begin to make a lot more sense. His marginal value is significantly greater for them -- i.e, his presence would help them much more than it would for the Cardinals. As Crawfish Boxes puts it:

Oswalt could be a huge factor in a Philly run to the World Series. Just imagine what pitching well on East Coast team, in the midst of a late-second half surge could do for Oswalt's legacy—not to mention Oswalt's competitive spirit. There is certainly more risk in Phillies chances of fulfilling Roy Oswalt's desires in 2010, but the opportunity to imprint himself on the national consciousness is great. Not to mention that at this point it is between staying in Houston to break Joe Niekro's record or assuredly pitching for a team that is likely to be in contention both in the present and in 2011 as well.

Immortality or a surer thing: it's Oswalt's choice.

All reports this Thursday morning indicate that the Phillies and Astros indeed have a deal in place, and that it's just a matter of Roy Oswalt waiving his no-trade clause and agreeing to go to Philadelphia (moreover, Joel Sherman reports that Oswalt may demand his $16 million option in 2012 be picked up, but points out that the trade "is very close").

The popular rumor for this deal is that the Phils get Oswalt (along with some cash), while the Astros would get in return J.A. Happ and prospects Matt Rizzotti and Vance Worley. And since we're all just waiting to hear from Oswalt, HardballTalk figures now is as good a time as any to take a closer look at those two prospects, Rizzotti and Worely.

Rizzotti is a 1B/DH who has been raking in high-A and AA this year, with a combined line of .362/.443/.595 (and the numbers are actually better at AA than A). The problem with him, though is that he turns 25 after this season which makes him a bit old for the leagues he's in. While it's possible that he's a late bloomer who made a big leap forward this year, the guy doesn't really project to a big time major league talent. He could probably start for a bad team like Houston, though.

Worley is a 22 year-old starter who is 9-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 20 starts, all but one of which have come at AA (he was recently promoted to Lehigh Valley).  His strikeout numbers don't suggest he's an overpowering pitcher -- he has a 6.6 K/9 in his minor league career -- but he's decent enough. My guess is that he projects as a swingman/4th-5th starter-type.

Nothing amazing, no, but an "OK haul."

And if you're wondering why Oswalt is considering Philadelphia, after saying St. Louis was his number one choice, look no further than the past week: after winning eight straight games, the Cardinals have dropped four of their past six, while the Phillies have won seven in a row. It is likely that Oswalt may just think that right now, Philadelphia has a better chance of getting to the World Series.

The earlier report about Philadelphia and Houston agreeing to a Roy Oswalt trade kind of came out of nowhere, so it's only natural to question its validity. Enter Alyson Footer, who describes herself as the Astros' Senior Director of Social Media:

for what it's worth Berman is never wrong when he goes that far w/ his reporting. He is 100 % or he doesn't go with it.

Berman, of course, being the man behind the report. Over the offseason, Berman was the first to report the Brandon Lyon signing with Houston, so this certainly seems legitimate. All that's left to do is await an answer from Roy Oswalt himself on what he's going to decide.

After days upon days of talking and trying to work out a million different ideas, it seems the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies have finally settled on a trade that will send ace starter Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia. Says Mark Berman:

Major League baseball sources told FOX 26 Sports the Houston Astros have a deal in place to trade pitcher Roy Oswalt to the Philadelphia Phillies if Oswalt agrees to waive his no-trade clause.

Sources told FOX 26 the Astros have approached Oswalt. He is aware of the deal that is on the table and the club is waiting for his response.

The Astros and Phillies have, according to the report, agreed on both players and how much of Oswalt's hefty contract each team will cover, leaving the fate of the deal in Oswalt's hands. And, just as Oswalt requested, he's got some time to mull it over before Saturday afternoon's deadline.

Oswalt has posted a 3.42 ERA over 129 innings in 20 starts, striking out 120 while walking 34. One of the top arms in the National League, he's no stranger to pitching in a hitter-friendly environment similar to Philadelphia's home ballpark, and he'd serve as an enormous upgrade to the Phillies rotation betwteen Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. Halladay has been an ace and Hamels has pitched like a legitimate second starter, but the team has had trouble getting consistency from anyone else, and with Jamie Moyer likely out for the rest of the year, they really needed a move.

The Phillies beat the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and currently stand 3.5 behind Atlanta in the NL East, and 2.5 behind San Francisco for the Wild Card. Oswalt's next start was scheduled for Friday, so if he makes a fast decision and approves the trade, he could make an immediate impact.

Stay tuned to this StoryStream for updates, and also keep an eye on The Crawfish Boxes, The Good Phight, SB Nation Houston, and SB Nation Philly for more.