For a while the Roy Oswalt rumors were a going concern—the top priority in St. Louis Cardinals news, such as it was. But now that pitchers and catchers have reported and Oswalt finds himself in neither group, the whole thing just seems like an anachronism, like wondering seriously whether high-speed Internet access will have a deleterious effect on the operations of the Pony Express.
↵At this point Oswalt seems to have no leverage at all: Either he signs for $5 million or so for whichever team has offered him that much—apparently neither the Boston Red Sox nor the Cincinnati Reds—or he takes the year off and comes back a year older and less proven at significantly less than $5 million. For a guy with an interesting borderline Hall of Fame candidacy, missing that year seems like a bad idea, especially when it seems clear that he could get a rotation job somewhere if he's willing to take less money.
↵But he doesn't have much time; if he signs with the Cardinals, for instance, they'll still have to figure out what to do with Jake Westbrook and Kyle McClellan, who'd each be bumped in turn as he settled in as the fourth starter.