The Dodgers want this guy

With the trade deadline only a week away (Saturday, July 31), the Dodgers are no doubt looking to add to their pitching.

Their biggest target: Roy Oswalt.

Just exactly who the Dodgers are willing to give away and how much they'll take on is the million dollar question. They currently have Clayton Kershaw, Vicente Padilla, Hiroki Kuroda, and Chad Billingsley in their starting rotation. Good starters, but not quite a true ace. Oswalt would change all of that.

Here's what we do know. Jayson Stark of ESPN has reported that the Astros and Dodgers have exchanged names. No actual names were reported, though. Ned Colletti recently told the LA Times that he doesn't want to take a huge salary (Oswalt has $25 million left this season and next, plus a $12 million option for 2012) and unload top-tier prospects.

If you're to believe all of that, then Colletti certainly doesn't appear to be interested in Oswalt at the current price.

The latest update from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports pretty much backs up what Colletti said. The Astros want major league position players and prospects. In the words of Rosenthal via Twitter, "Not happening."

As we've seen plenty of times in the past, you never know what is actually going on behind the scenes. On the surface, it sure looks like the Astros would have to lower their enormous asking price for the Dodgers to be trade partners. Could it just be both teams playing hardball? Doesn't seem out of the question.

It's hard not to like the thought of getting Oswalt. The Astros are horrible this year, so his record is only 6-11. But a quick look at his 3.12 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 117 strikeouts in 124 innings, and it's easy to see why he finally requested a trade.

I'll give Colletti a ton of credit here - he finds creative ways to make moves at the deadline without giving up the farm. In recent years, I can only recall giving up Carlos Santana in the Casey Blake deal as being a bad move. Other than that, he's added Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Jon Garland, Vicente Padilla, George Sherrill (awesome last year at least) and Ronnie Belliard without giving up much of anything.

Colletti will most likely have to weave that same type of magic again for Oswalt to be in blue this year.