The scouts are out there, trolling for pitchers with pulses, having concluded there probably won't be a middle-of-the-order bat, and skeptical the few available pitchers are worth the current prices.

"I'm not sure any of them are better than what we already have," said one scout, whose National League team isn't even considered among the pitching rich.

A handful of contenders hold out hope Carlos Zambrano might come free, but that's looking less likely by the hour, as Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs drew again within three losses of the Milwaukee Brewers on a steamy Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley.

There also has been some speculation among scouts about Erik Bedard, the Baltimore Orioles' left-hander, but that was a longshot even before Bedard's neck stiffened, causing him to miss Wednesday's start in Seattle. He's now scheduled to pitch Friday night in Oakland.

So, for curious clubs who wouldn't mind taking on some payroll if it meant even a slight upgrade over, say, Mark Hendrickson or Kei Igawa or Julian Tavarez or Kyle Davies, or if waiting around on, say, Pedro Martinez is sounding less like a good idea, the scouting schedule plays out thusly:

Today and tonight: Matt Morris against the Cubs in Chicago, Javier Vazquez against the Boston Red Sox in Boston.

Friday: Jose Contreras against the Red Sox in Boston, Kyle Lohse against the Florida Marlins in Florida.

Saturday: Jamey Wright against the Cleveland Indians in Texas, Steve Trachsel against the Oakland A's in Oakland.

Sunday: Bronson Arroyo against the Marlins in Florida, Woody Williams against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Granted, it's not much of a long weekend. Problem is, nearly every time a team fires up the radar gun, it sees an ineffective pitcher. A baseball personnel man who caught the Houston Astros' game in Washington on Wednesday said Jason Jennings "couldn't have been worse," while in Florida Dontrelle Willis (three innings, 11 hits, six runs) was being outpitched by 12-game loser Kip Wells.

Meantime, Morris has one decent start in a month, Contreras has won once in going on two months, and Lohse is sweating to keep his ERA under 5. Vazquez is pitching reasonably well, but he's made it clear before he won't be happy west of Chicago, eliminating a lot of contenders.

More and more, it looks like there is only thing worse than going the summer with the pitching staff you've got. And that would be to trade for pitching.

FIVE …

• Scott Boras disagrees with Marlins president David Samson's analysis of the Ichiro Suzuki contract. Now, Boras happens to represent a pretty good free-agent-to-be center fielder in Andruw Jones, and of course he'd be all for a market-setting $18-million-a-year deal for Ichiro. Boras' point: Ichiro's projected 2007 numbers (.352 batting average, .856 OPS, 74 RBI, 114 runs), along with the fact Ichiro plays a premium defensive position, are remarkably similar to Derek Jeter's 2000 numbers (.339 batting average, .897 OPS, 73 RBI, 119 runs), after which Jeter signed a 10-year, $189-million contract. Ichiro will be 34 in October, which was part of Samson's hysteria. Jeter just turned 33 and has 3½ years remaining on the contract, during which he'll be paid about $71 million.

"Mr. Samson," Boras said, "should look at the 2000 marketplace to see what a good deal this was for the Mariners. Billy Bavasi got a great deal on a franchise player. He got 2000 values in 2007."

• Had a thought: Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, together again, the summer of 2013, on a stage in Cooperstown, N.Y. Or, maybe, 2014.

Bonds has said he will play 'til he can play no more, which, judging from recent weeks, could only be in the American League. And maybe he will go on, though a lot could happen in the coming months, both on the field and off, that could change his mind.

Kent has a $9 million option with the Los Angeles Dodgers for next season. A combination of developing bats (Matt Kemp, James Loney), an older, declining hitter already under contract for 2008 (Nomar Garciaparra, at $8.5 million) and other middle-infield options (Tony Abreu, Chin-Lung Hu), make the Kent option unlikely to be exercised.

Yeah, could be an interesting weekend.

• The Colorado Rockies do their part to avoid the trading-deadline prices in Washington tonight, when they hand the ball to 23-year-old right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez. While awaiting Jason Hirsh's return from a sprained ankle, and measuring the market at a time they'd like to add an arm to both their rotation and their bullpen, the Rockies will get a start or two out of Jimenez, who made two appearances, one a start, in the final week of last season.

• The Kansas City Royals aren't going to lose 100 games for the first time in four seasons (and the second in six) in large part because of a rebuilt bullpen, worst in baseball last season but seventh in the AL this season. While Octavio Dotel had done most of the end-game work since late May, the men in front of him – Joakim Soria, David Riske, Joel Peralta and Jimmy Gobble – give the Royals a chance on most nights, so much so that Dotel can be had (for the price, so far, of a big-time prospect or two). Riske, Gobble, Soria and Dotel combined for four shutout innings in Boston on Wednesday night, and in three games at Fenway this week (two of them wins), the bullpen allowed two runs (both by Peralta) in 11 innings. The real find has been Soria, a Rule 5 pick from the San Diego Padres who turned 23 in May and has not allowed a run in his last 19 1/3 innings, over 17 appearances, a stretch in which he has allowed seven hits and four walks and struck out 25. Soria has not allowed a home run in 41 innings this season, through 164 batters faced.

• A lesson for Shane Victorino and the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday. Victorino was caught stealing to end the first inning on a 3-and-1 pitch to Ryan Howard, the first time he'd been caught since April 12. Howard, who hit two home runs the night before, resumed his at-bat in the top of the second inning and homered over the center-field wall. The Philadelphia Phillies lost by a run.

… AND FLY

All things considered, it's hard to believe the Giants passed on a chance to sign Julio Franco. There's always next year. Or the year after.