Many vying for few in free-agent arms race

Oswalt, Wilson commanding interest from Nationals, Yankees

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com |  11/15/11 9:32 PM EST

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MILWAUKEE -- Starting pitching is scarce this winter. That is no secret. With scant few starters available on the free-agent market, many teams have already displayed overlapping interest in the few quality arms available.

Take the Yankees, for example, always a player for the most high-profile free agents. General manager Brian Cashman held an impromptu meeting Tuesday with Bob Garber, the agent for free-agent starters C.J. Wilson and Roy Oswalt, perhaps the two best starters available.

"I've had a number of agents who have texted me, asking for times to meet," Cashman said at the General Managers Meetings in Milwaukee. "I've responded to all of them. Garber was like, 'I can meet right now,' so I said, 'All right, come on up.'"

But Cashman is far from alone in his interest. The Nationals have made it no secret that they are also hotly pursuing a rotation upgrade, meeting with Garber on Monday evening to discuss both of his high-profile clients. The D-backs, Angels and Rangers have also been linked to one, if not both.

"Coming into the offseason, we really have two things that we're trying to tackle," Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said. "Starting pitching's always a thing that we want to improve."

Of all interested teams, the Nationals possess some of the best arms already, given their current rotation depth with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Chien-Ming Wang and a multitude of promising prospects. (The Angels, too, are in fine shape.) But Rizzo said that the Nats would jump at the chance to provide those pitchers with a role model of sorts.

"We're satisfied with that [rotation], but we certainly would like to add a veteran at the top of that lineup to take a little stress off the young pitchers," Rizzo said. "We're always in the market for that. We'd like to do that."

The Yankees, meanwhile, remain rife with rotation uncertainty. Perennial Cy Young Award candidate CC Sabathia is set to return on an extended contract, while A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes will all be back in some capacity. But that group displayed marked inconsistency throughout the summer, making the Yanks prime candidates to spring for pitching once again.

To date, they have spoken to Garber only in what their general manager called "a non-descriptive fashion." But Cashman did indicate he would be more willing to purchase a pitcher through free agency than to give up quality prospects in a trade.

"I'd rather spend the money than the prospects if they're the high-end prospects," Cashman said. "If we believe that those players are going to translate into something really good at the Major League level, I'd rather spend the money and keep the prospects, and hopefully just spend the money wisely. But we've spent a lot of money already."

Other available free-agent pitchers include Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson and Hiroki Kuroda, all of them attracting various degrees of interest -- and not necessarily limited to the Yankees, Nats, D-backs, Angels, Rangers and Marlins.

In that sense, this is far from an ideal buyer's market. Front offices were already wary of the left-handed Wilson, widely considered the best starting pitcher available, even before his string of poor postseason performances. Oswalt's age and balky back are concerns. And from there, the market only grows weaker.

But considering that at least a half-dozen teams -- if not more -- are likely to make offers for the top names available, prices could nonetheless soar. The top free-agent starter available last winter, Cliff Lee, scored a five-year, $120 million deal from the Phillies, largely because so few alternatives existed. While no one is likely to come close to that type of money this winter, the prospect of pitchers earning big bucks this winter remains as real as ever -- even despite the market's inherent flaws.

Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDicomo . This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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