The A's, who had rehabilitated veteran pitchers from other teams, took a chance and signed him to a $1.6 million contract for two years.

"I had many veteran pitchers in front of me," Okajima said.

It takes maybe longer for young guys to get going as fast as veteran pitchers.

The Baltimore Orioles have added two veteran pitchers to their youthful starting rotation.

While two veteran pitchers for the Yankees struggled last night, another one could be facing hard times ahead.

In the clubhouse, though, there are veteran pitchers who believe Young has no business being in the major leagues.

Yesterday, it was Hutton not quite being able to get a team out of a situation that a more veteran pitcher may well have handled.

They remember how a few years ago the team traded away veteran pitchers when the White Sox were in the race.

Money aside for the moment, if they never have enough pitching, why are so many veteran pitchers jobless with spring training less than two weeks away?

A far more veteran pitcher will be waiting in the on-deck circle, too.