Jon Daniels: Oswalt's “As Ready As He's Going To Be”

Following his start for Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday, in which he went six innings, givings up two runs on five hits and striking out five, Roy Oswalt seemed hopeful that he was getting close to a return to the Major Leagues--that “the next step [was] in Arlington.”

On Monday, general manager Jon Daniels sounded like he’s getting close to declaring the veteran ready as well, though that’s hardly an indication that we’ll see Oswalt in a Rangers’ uniform this week.

"We got pretty good reports [on Oswalt]," Daniels said, per the Dallas Morning News. "He got to 100 pitches, but he wasn't laboring to get there. At this point, we feel physically he's as ready as he's going to be. If this was spring training, we'd say he's probably ready to start the year."

Rangers’ president Nolan Ryan meanwhile said that if this were spring training, he’d like Oswalt to have a few more outings before facing a Major League lineup, but that the team isn’t in a position to dismiss anything at the moment--that, “given the circumstances, we will have to review everything.”

Texas has still not made a decision on who will get the start against Houston on Friday.