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The Toronto Blue Jays pretty much have no starting pitchers… except Scott Richmond who was awesome against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday. But we’ll just go ahead and pretend he’s not making some sort of great turn-around for the sake of this argument.

And the Jays aren’t the only team struggling with their rotation.  The Chicago Cubs?  Tampa Bay Rays?  Los Angeles Angels?  Possibly even the New York Yankees?  You get my drift.

So, why then is there an untouched Hall of Fame-bound great like Pedro Martinez (last spotted in Flushing) just chilling in free agency this season?  And don’t tell me Pedro is that choosy.  If you wanna play, you wanna play (right Ivan Rodriguez?)  If he didn’t want to pitch anymore, he’d retire already, right?  Obviously, he doesn’t want to waste his time by joining a team who isn’t a playoff contender… I get that.  Those teams I just mentioned?  All playoff contenders.  Sort of.  And they’ll each be scouting him this afternoon in his home country, the Domincan Republic.

The 37-year-old Martinez has 3,117 strikeouts, 214 career victories, and a shelf’s worth of Cy Young Awards, All-Star selections and even an American League Triple Crown.  Granted, that Triple Crown (23 Wins, 2.07 ERA, 313 K) came 10 long years ago.  But Pedro is a keeper.  The fact that he’s only been with four different teams in his 17-year big league career shows that.

So who’s next and likely last in his legacy?  From what I understand, the Cubbies are so broke they can’t even pay attention, what with having no owner to spend any money on them, so I’d paint them out of the picture.  Plus, they totally need a Carlos Zambrano-like pitcher who can hit, or at least likes to.

With lefty Scott Kazmir on the DL, Andy Sonnanstine not earning his living and rookie David Price struggling like rookies generally do, Tampa Bay seems pretty nice this time of year.  Or maybe they just need some relief?  With Troy Percival and Jason Isringhausen out of the picture, they could very well ask Pedro to join their bullpen.  He’s not likely to be down with that, though.

On to the Angels.  Last year’s “best team in baseball” kicked off the season in rough shape with three of their starting five on the disabled list: Ervin Santana, John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Santana, scratched from his most recent start due to “stiffness” will not be the 15-game winner the Halos were hoping for in 2009.  Lackey really can’t get much fatter, and Escobar could be facing surgery if his shoulder doesn’t stop acting up.  So yeah, they need some help.  Pretty sure money is no object in LA, but will Pedro ever pitch for an American League team again after the way he split from Boston?

Glad you asked.  This brings us to the Yankees.  Written in stone as Martinez’ nemesis/daddy, they just may be desperate enough for a piece to add their broken rotation, to put their long-standing ire of Pedro behind them.  With how hard Chien-Ming Wang continues to suck and the choke-hold their rival Red Sox have on the AL East, Pedro could really help in the wins department – and the in-your-face department — concerning both the Sox and the Mets, who are anything but interested in re-signing him after the last three injury-ridden seasons.

How soon they forget their 17-game winning, 3,000 strikeout-earning veteran.  The time to strike is now, Pedro.  On principle if nothing else.