Anyone unconvinced that having young, cheap starting pitching isn't a huge luxury?  Well, here's a bit of proof:  I give you, the 2004 free agent starting pitcher signings:

The BAD or INJURED:
ARI: Russ Ortiz (115IP 6.89ERA 5-11)
CHW: Orlando Hernandez (128.1IP 5.12ERA 9-9)
FLA: Al Leiter (80IP 6.64ERA 3-7 [in Florida])
KC: Jose Lima (168.2IP 6.99ERA 5-16)
SEA: Aaron Sele (116IP 5.66ERA 6-12)
BOS: Wade Miller (91IP 4.95ERA 4-4)
CIN: Eric Milton (186.1IP 6.47ERA 8-15)
TB: Hideo Nomo (100.2IP 7.24ERA 5-8)
NYY: Carl Pavano (100IP 4.77ERA 4-6)
NYY: Jaret Wright (63.2IP 6.08ERA 5-5)

The OKAY:
BOS: Matt Clement (191IP 4.57ERA 13-6)
BOS: David Wells (184IP 4.45ERA 15-7)
ARI: Shawn Estes (123.2IP 4.80ERA 7-8)
PHI: Jon Lieber (217.1IP 4.20ERA 17-13)
SD: Woody Williams (159.2IP 4.85ERA 9-12)

The GOOD:
LAA: Paul Byrd (204.1IP 3.74ERA 12-11)
WSH: Esteban Loaiza (217IP 3.77ERA 12-10)
LAD: Derek Lowe (222IP 3.61ERA 12-15)
NYM: Pedro Martinez (217IP 2.82ERA 15-8)
CLE: Kevin Millwood (192IP 2.86ERA 9-11)

So, out of the 20 biggest signings, 10 were terrible or injured, 5 were okay, and 5 were good.  Compare that to our starting 5... only 25% of them had ERA's lower than our HIGHEST ERA.  

OAKLAND:
Zito (228.1IP 3.86ERA 14-13)
Harden (128IP 2.53ERA 10-5)
Haren (217IP 3.73ERA 14-12)
Blanton (201.1IP 3.53ERA 12-12)
Saarloos (159.2IP 4.17ERA 10-9)

We can sit back and appreciate the luxury we have of having a brilliant GM who understands where bargains are to be had and where other GM's overpay.  Let's hope he continues exploiting this!

So, I say we avoid the AJ Burnetts and Jarrod Washburns of the world and stick to the organizational philosophy of getting young, inexpensive pitchers.