Brandon Webb

2:13pm: Webb won't be signing cheaply.  In an email to MLBTR, his agent Jonathan Maurer said:

"Webb loves Arizona and they will be considered highly, but Brandon WILL be looking at an incentive-based contract [with] a guaranteed base where [Brad] Penny and [Rich] Harden at $7.5MM, [Ben] Sheets at $10MM and [Tim] Hudson's $9.33MM average annual value are all conversation starters.  Webb, when healthy, is one of the top pitchers in the game.  Arizona is a great place to play, ([though] it has always been a hitter's park, Webb has dominated there) but I anticipate significant interest in what is a very healthy Brandon Webb, with his signature life back on all his pitches."

8:37am: When Josh Byrnes exercised Brandon Webb's 2010 club option in January, the expectation was that the pitcher would be ready for Spring Training following August shoulder surgery.  Webb declined the team's overtures regarding a 2011 option, and I even opined that a return to form in 2010 could lead to an $80MM deal.

What a difference eight months makes.  Byrnes was canned, replaced by Jerry Dipoto on an interim basis.  Veterans Dan Haren, Edwin Jackson, Chris Snyder, and Chad Qualls were shipped out, saving the team many millions.  And setbacks in Webb's recovery have him looking at a potential September debut in a relief role.  Webb explained to the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro:

"The next few weeks are huge for next year.  For one, I want to prove it to myself. And, two, I want to prove not only to the Diamondbacks but all the other teams out there that might be interested in me playing for them next year."

Despite the changes with the team, Webb's stance toward returning to the Diamondbacks next year remains the same.  He hopes to return, but he understands he might end up leaving.  Webb knows he's looking at an incentive-based deal, and says it'll be in the team's hands after the season.  He had positive words for the revamped Arizona pitching staff, which is now built around Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, Dan Hudson, and Barry Enright.

Webb made similar comments about returning to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick in January, but at that time he focused a bit more on doing the best for his family and playing near his Kentucky home.  At the time, I noted that Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland are fits geographically.

Brandon Webb tells MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that if the Arizona ace is able to pitch at all in 2010, it will be out of the Diamondbacks' bullpen.  Webb threw a bullpen session last weekend and plans to stick to long-toss sessions for the next two weeks, with an eye towards a very tentative September 1 return date.

"I feel like if I get my velocity, if I throw a couple of 'pens and a couple of simulated games, it'll be right around Sept. 1 and no Minor Leagues are going to be playing, they'll be done. I'll have to throw out of the 'pen here," Webb said.

Perhaps the most important factor in Webb's decision lies in the last line of Gilbert's piece, where he notes that Webb wants to get some major league innings under his belt this season as he goes into free agency.  Whereas another pitcher might want to save his arm rather than risk further injury in a meaningless September game for the last-place D'Backs, Webb would prefer to prove his health now rather than take part in offseason throwing sessions a la Ben Sheets.  (Then again, Sheets was still able to sign a one-year, $10MM deal with Oakland despite having a more checkered injury history than Webb currently does.)

Webb hasn't pitched in a major league game since April 6, 2009 due to shoulder surgery.  The Diamondbacks took the risk and picked up his 2010 club option worth $8.5MM last November, but a number of setbacks have kept Webb off the mound.  Even with these injury problems, Webb will surely attract lots of interest from teams looking to sign the 2006 NL Cy Young Award winner to a short-term and/or incentives-laden contract.