Third Time's a Charm? David Wells Eyes Return to the Bronx

Earlier this week, when the MLBPA made public a formal investigation about collusion toward Barry Bonds, they included a handful of other veteran free agents to the mix. It seemed like a surefire way to weaken their case. Outside of Kenny Lofton, who will be playing for someone come July, using guys like Jose Mesa, Sammy Sosa and David Wells only proved that major league teams had common sense not that they were colluding.

Or so I thought. Today's New York Post reports that Wells has been working out and feels he could help the Yankees survive the less-than-stellar work from Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Wells did not pitch well for the Padres or Dodgers last summer and, at 45, doesn't really fit into the idea of building young players to lead you to the next taste of championship glory.

Perhaps we shouldn't write it off, though, since Hank Steinbrenner seems to have inherited his father's patience.

Everybody talks about the great players from the farm system that we had in the '90s, but it was the starting rotation. That was a huge part of the success. Huge."

They don't come any huger than Wells, so this signing could actually happen.

Lil' Stein's not wrong about the pitching on those teams but he's wrong about Wells of 2008 being representative of that group. The revolving door of veteran pitchers unable to get the job done is what created the shift to developing their own pitching talent.

Brian Cashman is used to his bosses making moves around or behind his back. Raul Mondesi, Gary Sheffield and others all came to the Yankees via the whim of Big Stein. If Wells did wind up in XXXL pinstripes, it's hard to believe that the move would come with the GM's seal of approval. He didn't want to give Hughes's spot in the rotation to Johan Santana, hard to imagine he'd want to hand it to a much older, much less talented lefty.

One last thought, if David Wells gets a job with a big league team this summer and Barry Bonds doesn't, collusion is no longer just a rumor.