Cardinals Offered Roy Oswalt $5 Million

We heard yesterday free agent Roy Oswalt's strategy is to wait until a contending team gets desperate for another starter at mid-season, but why? It was rumored Oswalt was seeking a one-year, $10 million deal this offseason and one of the two teams he wanted to join, the St. Louis Cardinals, were only willing to meet Oswalt halfway.

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals modified their offer from $3 million to $5 million guaranteed for 2012. Oswalt, however, believes he could do just as well mid-season and is willing to wait it out until then when he'd have something he doesn't have right now - leverage.

Cardinals first baseman/outfielder Lance Berkman is buying it, telling Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "It’s strictly a money thing. The Cardinals' (offer) ... wasn’t enough to lure him out of Mississippi." Berkman and Oswalt were teammates for several years during their days with the Houston Astros.