So Who Hasn't Signed Yet?

We’re now about three weeks into spring training, and almost every free agent has been plucked from the vine (Austin Jackson, who had been waiting around for awhile, was signed by the Chicago White Sox Saturday; he’ll help fill in left field and right field for them).  There are still a few guys around who might be worth poking at for teams desperately in need, while others are almost certainly done.  I’ll address the position players tomorrow; here’s what’s going on with the pitchers. 

Starting Pitchers

• Tim Lincecum is the top name in the group and is available, and apparently the Padres have interest in him.  That might be worth watching – Lincecum underwent hip surgery last year, and while the Pads have taken chances on injured pitchers (Josh Johnson), it generally hasn’t worked out (Josh Johnson).
• Chad Billingsley has only pitched 49 innings in the majors in the last three years, and has had surgery twice on his flexor tendon.  I don’t think he’ll be back; almost certainly not this year.
• Aaron Harang is now 38, and if he hadn’t had a decent year in 2014 with Atlanta (sandwiched in between two terrible ones), we probably wouldn’t be talking about him.
• Mark Buehrle is presumed retired, but he did pitch nearly 200 innings last year, so it’s possible someone might pay him enough money to tempt him back for another season.  Roger Clemens occasionally waited until May to sign with a team, and it worked for him.  (However, when Roy Oswalt did the same thing, it didn’t work at all.)
• Josh Johnson underwent Tommy John surgery for the third time late last year, and is presumed out for all of 2016.  He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2013, so his chances of a successful comeback aren’t very good.
• Cliff Lee is presumed retired.
• Kyle Lohse had an awful year with the Brewers last year, but (unlike Matt Garza, who threw a fit when the Brewers dumped him into the bullpen to look at youngsters), took it pretty well.  I don’t think he’ll be back (he’s now 37), but someone might take a flyer on him.  The only number of his that really jumped last year was home runs allowed, so perhaps switching to more of a pitchers’ park (Miami? San Diego?) would help.
• Alfredo Simon isn’t really a starter – he had one fluky good year with Cincinnati in 2014, and a lousy one last year with Detroit.  It’s possible a team might bring him in as a swing man in the bullpen, but I would think they’d have done that by now – it would take awhile for him to get in shape.  But since the only headlines he’s made since season’s end were for settling a rape lawsuit, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back.
• Jerome Williams has been on the fence like this before, and will probably start the year in the minors if he wants to continue.
• Randy Wolf is in the same situation as Williams.  I didn’t even realize he was still active until I saw in Baseball Prospectus he went 0-5 with Detroit last year.  Given he hasn’t had an ERA under four in MLB since 2009, he probably isn’t fielding lots of offers.

Relief Pitchers

• Joe Beimel is a LOOGY that started running out of gas last year (5.48 ERA).  He’d probably be willing to sign a minor-league deal; he spent half of 2014 in the minors.
• Randy Choate is also a LOOGY and is now 40, but he did have a pretty decent year last year.  The Astros were supposedly taking a look at him, so there’s a decent chance he’ll latch on with someone.
• Sean Marshall missed much of 2013 and 2014 and all of 2015, but he’s still hoping for another shot.  When he was healthy, he was an important part of the Cubs and Reds bullpens.
• Joe Nathan missed virtually all of 2015 and was none too effective in 2014.  He definitely won’t go back to Detroit.  Someone else might give him a tryout, but it hasn’t happened yet, and given he's now 41, there are no guarantees.