Did The Pirates Miss On Francis Because Of Jackson/Oswalt?

I'm writing this on my iPhone when I should be studying biology, so it's going to be quick.

The news broke today that the Pirates had wanted to bid on Roy Oswalt, but were told to not waste their time. This comes one day after we heard that Ye Pirates had offered Edwin Jackson a 3 year deal.

So now my question is did those two failed attempts cost the Pirates the chance to sign a lesser pitcher like Jeff Francis?

Earlier on this offseason, I was expecting the Pirates to get Francis. He seemed like a cheap guy that could fit in well with PNC Park who might actually want to come here. The Pirates clearly didn't try very hard to get him, if at all, because Francis ended up taking a minor league deal with the Reds.

Now did the Pirates skip on Francis just to see if they could get Jackson or Oswalt? I don't think we will ever know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was true.

At the end of the day, not getting Jeff Francis isn't going to hurt the Pirates much. I think it would have been a safe guy to get to add depth, I'd probably rather have him in the rotation than Kevin Correia or Brad Lincoln, but again, it's not a game changing thing

It certainly would have been nice to get Oswalt or Jackson, but the Pirates just don't have the appeal to get those types of players yet. It's frustrating, but that's the game.

One thing that I can say positive from all this is that it's nice to see the Pirates going after these big names. It shows they believe they can compete and they are ready to spend some money. Then again, they could have just put the offers in for the fans sake, knowing that the players weren't going to accept their contracts. That seems unlikely though, so let's just stay positive.