Arms Race Has Old Weapons

The problem, as the Dodgers, and most like them, see it, is this:

The mediocre -- and even many of the good -- organizations need major league pitching. Nearing the trading deadline, their general managers browse the bottom half of the standings and rediscover that the poor teams are poor because they have little or none of it.

So the Red Sox bring aboard Kyle Snyder and Jason Johnson, who were designated for assignment within nine days of each other by the pitching-starved Royals and Indians.

Other people’s problems, maybe, but Snyder beat the Nationals on Monday, which is more than Chien-Ming Wang or Shawn Chacon could do for the Yankees over the preceding weekend.

Recognizing that they were well ahead of the game at that point, the Red Sox replaced Snyder on the roster with Johnson, who will pitch out of the bullpen until he is needed for Saturday’s start against the Marlins. Snyder will wait out the next crisis in Pawtucket.

Whether this counts for Theo Epstein as creativity or desperation -- Matt Clement and David Wells are on the disabled list, so in Boston it’s known as “genius” -- it’s not new, particularly among contending teams.

The Mets have taken fliers on Jose Lima, Dave Williams and Jeremi Gonzalez. Lima and Gonzalez are gone, and Williams has a 6.48 earned-run average in three starts for Norfolk. The Dodgers have polished up Aaron Sele, the Brewers have tried Rick Helling, and the Reds and Diamondbacks have taken their chances with Joe Mays and Kevin Jarvis, respectively.

“It shows you how desperate everybody is,” one American League general manager observed.

The Dodgers already have sipped from that well, and have neither the depth nor aptitude of bullpen to survive regular collapses in the starting rotation, so General Manager Ned Colletti approaches his first trading deadline needing to get a middle-of-the-rotation starter, at least.

Considering that very plan in the off-season cost him a live-armed setup man, Duaner Sanchez, for a No. 5 starter/mop-up reliever, Jae Seo, and a triple-A reliever, Tim Hamulack, Colletti would seem to have his work cut out.

That’s not to say there aren’t possibilities. Livan Hernandez, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Tim Hudson, Dontrelle Willis, Paul Byrd, Ramon Ortiz and -- ain’t this a pip -- Jeff Weaver could, under the right circumstances, be available. The tricky part for Colletti will be to take in a starter and hold on to Chad Billingsley, especially, and his other big-league-ready studs -- all assembled and preserved under three other regimes -- as well.

Here’s another issue: Colletti is hardly the only GM lurking. The Diamondbacks, who by Baseball America standards have the only farm system more talented than the Dodgers’, will make a strong play for Willis and, if he’s available, Barry Zito. The Yankees and Red Sox are unsettled, the A’s are waiting on Rich Harden and now the Cardinals have put Mark Mulder on the disabled list.

And another: Who’s in? Who’s out?

Woke up Friday morning, and the Marlins were six games out of the NL wild-card lead. Would they trade Willis now? The Braves were nine out. What do they do?

The Indians are in a sell mode, but they still believe in their core players, despite a perplexing three months of baseball. Bob Wickman and Guillermo Mota can be had, but C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee, the pitchers teams would want, can’t be.

The Cubs too are done, but for the packing, but GM Jim Hendry so respects Maddux he’ll defer to the veteran’s wishes, within reason.

A year ago, it appeared that six teams were out of their division and wild-card races -- the Mariners, Devil Rays, Royals and Athletics in the American League, the Rockies and Reds in the National League. Only, the A’s weren’t really out, and by August had gone from 11 games back to a game ahead.

Today, one could argue that nine teams -- 10 if you can’t get used to the Marlins and their Kmart-special payroll -- have seen the last of their playoff contention.

Indeed, assuming Jeffrey Loria’s moods swing in both directions, the Marlins could become fairly aggressive buyers, become competitive with the Angels for a veteran outfielder -- say, Torii Hunter, Alfonso Soriano, Carl Crawford, et al. -- and make life totally miserable for Bill Stoneman.

A Marlins official said Friday that Willis and Miguel Cabrera were “not on the market,” but neither has GM Larry Beinfest disconnected his telephone.

The Blue Jays are one of the competitive teams, along with perhaps the Padres, Angels and few others, that could find themselves with a surplus of starters, depending on one’s definition of surplus.

A.J. Burnett came off the Blue Jays’ disabled list and pitched well Thursday, but GM J.P. Ricciardi still is relying on Josh Towers (1-8, 8.76 ERA), at least until Gustavo Chacin’s elbow heals, a process that could go down to the trading deadline. Chacin is expected back in early August.

“You better have about seven starters now,” Ricciardi said. “Your five best and two behind them that can help.”

If they haven’t already, the Angels will hear from plenty of teams about Weaver, because he’s healthy, was 7-3 after last season’s All-Star break, has pitched better lately and isn’t ridiculously expensive.

“There were a lot of scouts out there for his last start,” one baseball official said of Weaver’s six-inning, six-hit effort Wednesday in San Francisco. “Generally speaking, teams are starting to listen and talk.

“The Braves have had their big league scouts out, and Cleveland is talking. For some reason, this is the week people stopped vacillating.”