On the first day pitchers and catchers held workouts in Clearwater, Fla., in 2011, the Phillies put on a made-for-TV press conference when the players were through with their first official practice of the spring.

Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton sat at a table together and fielded questions about what it was like to be in a rotation that was already being regarded as one of the game's all-time best before any of them threw a pitch.

It's highly unlikely a similar show is put on within the next week, when pitchers and catchers will once again get in their first workouts of the 2012 season.

But with Oswalt still on the free agent market, the possibility wasn't as dead in the water as it seemed when he first filed for free agency after...