Roy Oswalt on a one-year deal is like a cheesecake with the nutritional benefits of spinach. People should be fighting over this sort of thing. Also, the cheesecake has a screwy back. But a one-year deal, people. That is so, so devoid of risk. Last year at this time, we were talking about the Phillies acing the aciest bunch of aces that ever aced. One of them is a free agent now, and he wants a one-year deal. Where's the line?

But while the Red Sox might just be playing it coy, or negotiating through the media, Jim Bowden says they're more interested in Edwin Jackson to fill their hole in the rotation:

Red Sox have made offers for Edwin Jackson and are presently in discussions with him and prefer him over Roy Oswalt according to source

The better pitcher for next year? Flip a coin. The better pitcher for 2014? Almost certainly Jackson, so if the Red Sox are thinking this is an opportunity to buy low on him, it makes sense.

Here's a fearless (if not stupid) prediction: The Red Sox get both. One second the Yankees were futzing around with A.J. Burnett, and the next they had Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda. This wouldn't be a perfectly comparable one-two strike for the Red Sox, but it would do a lot to ease some worried minds.

And it would mean the Marco Scutaro stuff would make a lot more sense. But absent that wild conjecture, what it looks like now is that Jackson is in the lead. And he's a Scott Boras client! John Lackey's contract will probably look like a minor-league invite when this is all finished.