Starting Pitchers Still On The Market

The Pirates could be spending some more money on another starting pitcher here in the next few days or weeks, so I wanted to take a look at the remaining free agent pitchers that they could be looking at. Obviously not all of these names even make sense for the Pirates, but it's interesting to see the whole list. Jeff Francis is a popular name, mainly because the Pirates have had interest in him in the past. Also, Edwin Jackson's name has been brought up by a few bloggers, not because of any rumors, but just because he is an intriguing name that is still available. Here's the full list, the number in parentheses is their Bill James 2012 predicted FIP, which is an ERA-like number that discounts everything the pitcher does not control.

Wei-Yin Chen (n/a)
Bartolo Colon (4.36)
Aaron Cook (4.42)
Kyle Davies (4.18)
Doug Davis (n/a)
Zach Duke (4.37)
Jeff Francis (4.02)
Armando Galarraga (n/a)
Jon Garland (4.73)
Rich Harden (4.38)
Clay Hensley (4.15)
Livan Hernandez (4.33)
Hisashi Iwakuma (n/a)
Edwin Jackson (4.03)
Scott Kazmir (n/a)
Hiroki Kuroda (3.89)
Rodrigo Lopez (4.68)
Paul Maholm (4.00)
Kevin Millwood (4.42)
Sergio Mitre (n/a)
Ross Ohlendorf (4.80)
Roy Oswalt (3.46)
Brad Penny (4.34)
Joel Pineiro (4.14)
Joe Saunders (4.59)
Javier Vazquez (3.94)
Tim Wakefield (4.72)
Brandon Webb (n/a)
Chris Young (n/a)

The top 5 FIP's on that list are Roy Oswalt, Javier Vazquez, Hiroki Kuroda, Paul Maholm, and Jeff Francis. Jackson would be 6th on that list. The Pirates have no chance at Oswalt, Vazquez (who might retire), or Kuroda, so let's not worry about them. The Pirates aren't completely out on Maholm, but that is very unlikely. I could see the Pirates getting Francis, in fact he's probably the most likely candidate. Jackson would be the best option for the future of the club (and they could probably actually afford to sign him), but I don't think the Pirates will bid on him.

I don't know if the Pirates are going to go after another starter, but if they do, my money is on Francis. Signing Francis will help the team, he is surely a better option than Kevin Correia and Brad Lincoln, and he will be relatively cheap. If the Pirates won't go after Jackson, I say go for Francis, it can't hurt, can it?