According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com the Nationals and Cubs “are stepping up their pursuit of Brandon Webb” and “making a big push” to sign the former Cy Young winner amid interest from “several other clubs.”
Washington has been linked to Webb since the moment he became a free agent and Chicago’s interest was first reported a couple weeks ago.
It’ll be interesting to see if Webb can parlay multiple teams being in the mix for him into a bidding war that ultimately gets him a big chunk of guaranteed money despite his last start coming on Opening Day of 2009.
When healthy Webb was an elite starter, finishing first or second in the Cy Young balloting from 2006-2008, but he hasn’t been “right” since the first half of 2008 and the early reports on his velocity following shoulder surgery weren’t very encouraging.