7/22 09:29: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated tweets, “oswalt to the #cardinals talks are “very real” according to a competing gm. mlb.com said oswalt wants to go to st. louis”

7/21 22:55: A source close to Matthew Leach of MLB.com says that the 2012 team option that Oswalt has been previously demanding to be picked up in order for him to waive his no-trade clause may not apply to the St. Louis Cardinals. The original report of a compromise with deferred money for the team option may not be required.

Leach says that Oswalt would likely find St. Louis a good geographical fit to his home state of Mississippi, and he would be a good fit in the clubhouse.

As far as trading chips, it would seem that 2009 first-round draft pick, Shelby Miller, a right-handed pitcher will be in the package.

The latest line for Miller, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus:

Shelby Miller, RHP, Cardinals (Low-A Quad Cities): 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K.  21 strikeouts over last 13 innings; the Cardinals only trade chip if they want to make a blockbuster.

7/21 19:57: Craig Calcaterra of hardballtalk, says that contrary to what we’ve all been hearing for the past several days, the Phillies are not the front runners for Roy Oswalt.  The St. Louis Cardinals are.

In fact, the Astros have been talking with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak for several days now, and Oswalt is quite amenable to go to St. Louis if the teams can agree on what players will head back to Houston.  For their part, the Cardinals are convinced that matching Roy Oswalt up with Dave Duncan would take a guy who is already an ace and turn him back into the Cy Young candidate he was a few years ago.

Of course, the big issue everyone has been talking about today has been Oswalt’s desire that his 2012 option be picked up.  That’s $16 million, and that ain’t hay.  Sources tell Craig, that Oswalt would be willing to work with the Cardinals to make the option more palatable, possibly in terms of deferring some money.  The sides aren’t quite that far yet.