Roy Oswalt: Still Not Signing With The Red Sox. Yet!

Roy Oswalt is closer to signing with the Red Sox today than he was yesterday. But not because of anything the Red Sox or Oswalt did. This has more to do with what the Rangers, Cardinals, and depending on how you feel about rumors, the Reds did not do. The clock is ticking on Oswalt's off-season, and eventually he might have to stop being so picky about how close to home he is or isn't.

Nick Cafardo has the latest in nothingness on Oswalt:

Regarding Oswalt, a major league source indicates that the 34-year-old righthander's priority is geographic, not financial, meaning the Red Sox are offering what Oswalt would accept, but he prefers a place like St. Louis or Texas over Boston.

Emphasis added for a reason: Boston, financially, is offering Roy Oswalt what his bank account desires. Whether this means Oswalt has settled on $5-6 million as being what he's going to have to take, or the Red Sox have increased their offer to meet Oswalt's minimum demands is unclear. What we do know is that the Red Sox aren't about to move any closer to Oswalt's home in order to sign him, so as of yet, Roy waits. And waits.

As we've been over, oh, a dozen times by now, the Rangers and Cardinals don't have room for Oswalt. The righty sure would love to get in on either club, but the Rangers don't seem interested given their full roster -- Alexi Ogando was already demoted to the bullpen, and they don't seem keen on sending Matt Harrison back to rejoin him, too --and the Cardinals have to move money around to make it happen (and have been trying to for quite some time now).

The Red Sox do have room for Oswalt, and even if they don't need him, it sure would be great to have him. You would rather have Oswalt and not need him, then need him and not have him, and that's coming from someone who thinks Daniel Bard and at least one of the half-dozen other options are going to do well in the 2012 rotation. You could argue the same for the Rangers and Cardinals, but, say it with me now: they don't have room for Oswalt.

Basically, the off-season is going to run out at some point soon, and Oswalt is going to be forced to make a decision that doesn't involve geography. With Boston offering competitive money on a competitive team, you have to think they are likely to get him. Even if Oswalt is doing his best to make sure no one in the Greater Boston area feels that way.