Astros owner was open to Oswalt deal with Cards

Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane said Wednesday that he would not have vetoed any deal that sent former ace Roy Oswalt to the Cardinals because of the teams sharing the same division. The talks just never got to that point, he said. “That was not a roadblock,” McLane said. “I think (trading within the division) used to be something you avoided. That’s not how I viewed it this time. We had discussions with the Cardinals, and it just did not work — it did not work for either team. It just never really materialized. They talked two or three times, and it never got close to being a deal.” McLane acknowledged that Oswalt was “excited about the potential of being with the Cardinals” and that he expressed that wish to Houston ownership. McLane said the players offered by the Cardinals, who included at least one major-league player, did not cause negotiations to falter. — St. Louis Post-Dispatch