Why Haven't the Cardinals Signed Roy Oswalt Yet?

Pitchers and catchers are days away from reporting and free agent pitcher Roy Oswalt is still homeless.

It's hard to imagine that a pitcher of his caliber has gone unsigned this entire off-season. Yes, he's aging. Yes he has back problems. And yes, he is a risk. But what is life without risks?

Last year he went 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA while starting 23 games and pitching 139 innings—not to mention he struck out 93 batters. Oswalt was, though, on the DL a lot last year.

In comparison, after his trade to the Phillies in 2010, Oswalt started 12 games and went 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA. In those 12 games, he also stuck out 73 batters.

Now let's compare Oswalt's 2011 stats with those of Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook. Over 33 starts, Westbrook went 12-9 with a 4.66 ERA while throwing 183.1 innings and striking out only 104 batters.

Oswalt still has plenty in the tank and that is why the Cardinals should sign him.

It's not often you have a pitcher of Oswalt's caliber knocking on your door asking to play. He has stated he wants to play in either Texas, St. Louis or any other team close enough to his home in Mississippi.

Texas is pretty much out of the race since they have an over abundance of starting pitching. That leaves St. Louis as the front runner. But that doesn't mean that the Reds, Red Sox or even the Astros are completely out of the race.

With Adam Wainwright coming back from Tommy John and with Carpenter's high innings last year, Oswalt would bolster a rotation that has some glaring question marks.

We all want to believe that Wainwright will be back to 2010 form and that Carpenter wont have any injuries. But Wainwright will probably need time to get his control back, and Carpenter is 36—going on 37—and has arm problems in the past. His high innings load last year could have stirred up trouble. 

Oswalt would make this rotation as scary as the offense, but without the hype that came with Philly's "Big 3". You would have Wainwright, Carpenter, Oswalt, Jaime Garcia and Kyle Lohse. Westbrook would be moved to the bullpen and serve a long reliever role, which would further bolster the bullpen. In addition, if something went wrong and one of the starters got injured, there would be three quality spot starters in Westbrook, Lance Lynn and Kyle McClellan. 

Oswalt has said he would only search for a one-year deal and would like to play for the Cardinals.

My question is: why hasn't he been inked and wearing Cardinal red yet?