A take on the remaining free agent pitching market

In an attempt to improve a starting rotation that ranked 14th in the American League last year in ERA at 4.53, the Orioles may be running out of solid options for an upgrade.

At this point, free agent right-handers Yovani Gallardo and Ian Kennedy are out there. But both were projected to potentially get four-year deals in the $50 million range. On top of that, the Orioles would have to give up the 14th pick in the draft to sign either.

While Gallardo went 13-11 with a 3.42 ERA for Texas last year, he also gave up 9.4 hits per nine innings with a WHIP of 1.416. Every Oriole that started a game last season except Mike Wright and Bud Norris had a better WHIP than that. But Gallardo's career WHIP is better at 1.31 and his ERA+ has been 108 or above in four of the last five years, when he has averaged 194 innings.

Kennedy, the Yankees' first-round pick in 2006, went 9-15 with a 4.28 ERA in 168 1/3 innings last season, allowing 31 homers for San Diego. In the three previous seasons, his ERA was 4.02 or above twice and his ERA+ is under 100 for three consecutive seasons.

In weighing the risk of signing Gallardo or Kennedy to a multi-year deal and losing a draft pick, the price just seems too high for me. At this point, it might be more prudent to sign a pitcher looking for a one-year deal or even potentially stay in house with pitchers like Wright, Tyler Wilson and Brian Matusz as possible fifth starter candidates.

If the Orioles did stay in-house, they would not be able to tell the fans they upgraded the rotation, replacing Wei-Yei Chen with an unproven in-house candidate. But that still could be a better play than overpaying for someone that is not necessarily an upgrade and losing a draft pick.

If the Orioles look for a one-year deal with a pitcher, here are a few that could be available:

Doug Fister: From 2011 to 2014, Fister posted an ERA of 3.11, which was 11th in the majors among qualifying pitchers, ahead of Zack Greinke, David Price and James Shields. He was just behind Madison Bumgarner at 3.08. His ERA+ of 129 tied for fifth in the major leagues. He also had a 50.5 percent groundball rate.

Fister averaged just 86 mph on his fastball last year when he pitched to an ERA of 4.60 in 15 starts. He went on the disabled list in May with forearm tightness and later lost his rotation spot with the Nationals. Fister's average velocity was 88.8 in 2013 and 87.8 in 2014. So while he has never thrown that hard, he is trending downward, which could be a red flag.

ESPN's Buster Olney reported recently that Fister has one- and two-year contract offers. Despite his poor 2015, it seems several teams see a strong track record here and feel Fister is a good candidate for a bounceback season.

Mat Latos: On Dec. 22, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reported that the Orioles, Pirates, Royals, Brewers, and Rays had checked in on Latos. He said Latos is probably looking at a one-year deal to re-establish his value after going 4-10 with a 4.95 ERA for the Marlins, Dodgers and Angels. Latos has dealt with several injuries in recent years, including a flexor mass strain and bone spurs in his elbow.

But he ranks 14th in the majors with a 3.27 ERA from 2010-2014, ahead of Greinke, Max Scherzer and Jon Lester to name three. His career WHIP is 1.18 and career ERA is 3.51.

Mark Buehrle: This is a real longshot. Recent reports indicated that the left-hander is not planning on playing in 2016 at this time, though he also was not yet ready to announce his retirement. A door may be ajar.

At 36 in 2015, Buehrle went 15-8 with a 3.81 ERA over 32 starts and 198 2/3 innings for Toronto. He fell four outs short of recording a 15th straight season of 200 or more innings. His WHIP though was a solid 1.24 and he averaged just 1.5 walks per nine innings to rank as the best in the AL.

I would imagine that if Buehrle ended retirement talk and signed with another AL East team, Blue Jays fans would have a major problem with that. This probably makes him only more appealing to Orioles fans.

Bronson Arroyo and Cliff Lee have also been mentioned as candidates to a sign a one-year deal. Lee is returning from a partially torn flexor tendon and reports have said he intends to pitch in 2016. Several teams figure to have interest in this one-time ace. There is always the trade possibility for starters, but usually the other team wants pitching back in return.

The Orioles were not willing to play in the high-end pitching market and either not willing or able to get pitchers like Jordan Zimmermann, Jeff Samardzija or Mike Leake. Perhaps they still have a shot at Chen, although it appears that ship has sailed.

I'll remind everyone here - myself included - that time remains to improve the rotation. But with spring training starting next month, the options are less appealing now.