NL Central

Standing at a measly 15-27, which is good for last place in the National League, the lowly Houston Astros’ season has gone from bad, to potentially worse.

On Friday, Houston’s star pitcher, Roy Oswalt, who has looked very impressive so far this season in amassing a 2.66 ERA and starting his 2010 pitching campaign with nine consecutive quality starts, requested a trade from the Astros, hoping to play for a contender to conclude the season.

You know what? He deserves that chance.

Roy Oswalt has asked the Houston Astros to trade him. He is owed quite a bit of dough so he won't be easy to deal. He will get $15 million for 2010 and 2011. In 2012, there's a club option for another $16 million, or a $2 million buyout. Good luck taking that salary on. He also has had groin and back troubles. Given the salary and injuries, the Astros may not get a lot back. He is off to a good start with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.

The word on the street says that that Oswalt wants to go to a contender. His short list includes the Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves.

It has been a while since I've written anything in this space. The reason for that is two-fold.

First, I am the proud parent to a new baby boy (he's a month old today, as a matter of fact)! Second, the team hasn't exactly given me much in the way of motivation to sit down and really put forth any concerted effort.

Entering the 2010 baseball season, the Cincinnati Reds and their fans had lofty expectation for the starting staff. Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto, Aaron Harang, and Mike Leake have gone way above and beyond those expectations since, on April 24, manager Dusty Baker went "Bull Durham" on the entire team.

This article was originally published at The Daily Cub.  Visit TheDailyCub.com for game recaps and opinions about the Chicago Cubs

There are three things that any given ball club can do in order to give it a fighting chance at making the playoffs: score more runs than you allow, have a defense that is not inept, and beat the teams in your division.

Scoring more runs than you allow obviously gives you a game-winning formula night in and night out. It is a simple and obvious concept, but it is hard to execute.

Marlon Byrd has been essentially carrying the Chicago Cubs, sporting a .340 average to go along with his .951 OPS. His 51 hits are second to only Martin Prado in the National League.

A glaring issue with Byrd's season thus far, is his shockingly low walk rate. He has walked only three times, good enough for the worst walk rate in the majors (1.9 percent). Byrd has never been mistaken for a walk machine, but he would set a career low at this pace.

Of course, Byrd's walk rate is acceptable so long as he continues his hit parade, but is that possible?

Good teams find ways to win.

In the words of my esteemed colleague, Jim Anchower , "Hola amigos. How's (stuff) shaking out? I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but misery's been flying at me from all directions, and it's been a (dang) full-time job to just duck out of the way of all of it."

Well not really—four days.

But it's been a long time since I've stood on my anti-Dusty Baker soapbox (at least 10 days). 

On Wednesday, Carrie Muskat wrote an article in which she said that "There are no deals pending, no scouts scouring other rosters to find help."

It wasn't a quote from Jim Hendry. It was just a line added into the article between quotes from the Cubs' general manager.

More specifically, it came immediately before the following quote from Hendry: