What Do These Men Have In Common?

Ted Lilly.
Miguel Batista.
Jason Johnson.
Ryan Franklin.
Gil Meche.
Aaron Sele.
Aaron Harang.
Josh Fogg.
Mark Redman.
Kip Wells.
Josh Fogg.

They're all veteran pitchers at or near the end of their current contracts who play for teams who aren't legitimately contending for a playoff spot, and who could probably pitch more effectively than Tony Armas.

Some (Johnson) are clearly better than others (Sele). And some would take more than others to get.

But, this is a starting point of names that Bowden needs to be investigating soon. Because with Tony Armas (let's face it -- 10 starts is enough to show that he doesn't have it) and Ryan Drese in the rotation, you're playing craps in 40% of your games.

Maybe Sunny Kim is the answer? Maybe Tomo Ohka was?

Either way, it needs an answer soon.

And that's even before we look at another bad outing by the clearly over-worked Luis Ayala.

Despite all the happy and good feelings, I suspect we're nearing an edge of a cliff. It's time for Bowden to nudge us back to safety.