Strange as it may seem, there is a school of thought, even among some agents, that the Yankees will not be major players in this winter's free-agent sweepstakes, even though they have a dire need for starting pitching once again.

One agent I spoke with at the GM meetings in Milwaukee said he doubted very highly that the Yankees would go hard for either C.J. Wilson or Yu Darvish, the plums in this year's free-agent pudding, which opens the door, believe it or not, for the return of the one and only Bartolo Colon.

That's right, the round moundsman might well be coming back for another go-round in pinstripes, although at nowehre near the bargain-basement price the Yankees plucked him off for last year, signing him as a non-roster invite to a minor-league contract that would pay him $900,000 if he made the roster.

He did, of course, and pitched exceptionally well until he got injured around the All-Star break. Colon finished at 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA, and GM Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner had nothing but praise for him, and his staffmate Freddy Garcia this week in Milwaukee.

"I have an interest in both Freddy and Bartolo,'' Cashman said. "Those guys all did a good job for us, a really good job.''

"Absolutely, that's something we'd consider,'' Steinbrenner said when asked if he could see the return of one or both of the Yankees surprise starters from 2011. ''It worked out pretty well last year. ''

The problem, of course, is that both are likely to want a lot more dough --Garcia worked for a $1.5 million base salary plus incentives that raised his final check to more than $3 million -- as well as a multiyear deal.

The question is, would you give it to them?

More specifically, do you think it would be a good idea to bring Bartolo back for a second act? Let us know.