There's no argument that the Dodgers are desperate for starting pitching. The injuries to Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf — and the fact Brett Tomko survived until late August with his 2-11 record and 5.80 ERA — all make that abundantly clear.

And it's not as if there's a huge surplus of major league-quality pitchers hanging around seeking employment as the season enters its final month.

But still, even taking such matters into account, does anybody think David Wells is going to solve the problem?

Somebody must, since the Dodgers have signed Wells to a contract that reportedly could, with incentives, earn him $1.3 million for the final five weeks of the season.

Whoever that somebody is, it — quite tellingly — is not Mr. Wells himself.

"Am I the solution? Probably not," Wells was quoted as saying Friday, after joining the Dodgers in New York. " Give me the ball and I'll try my best."

Presumably, Wells was doing that when he was still employed by the San Diego Padres, who let him go Aug. 9 after he went 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA, including a 13.97 ERA in his final three starts, all losses. (Suddenly, Tomko's numbers don't look quite so bad, do they?) On the heels of a season in which he was 3-5 with a 4.42 ERA — and gave up 97 hits in 7513 innings — pitching for the Red Sox and Padres, there's very little to suggest Wells has anything left in the tank and plenty to support the pitcher's own belief he had entered retirement when let go by San Diego.

Instead, just when we thought he was out, the Dodgers pulled him back in.

Hard to imagine this is going to work out particularly well. And unless it works out spectacularly well, what's the point? If you're going to grasp at straws, why not reach into the farm system and pull one out who might have a future beyond Sept. 30?

Why not bring back D.J. Houlton, who's had time with the Dodgers this season, is currently in Las Vegas with a 6-4 record and 3.87 ERA and is only 28 years old? If not him, why not 51s starter Miguel Pinango, 8-7 with a 4.12 ERA? I know nothing about him other than those numbers and the fact he's 24, but in this case, the unknown seems preferable to the known.

The most obvious take-a-chance candidate would be 22-year-old James McDonald, 6-2 with a 1.65 ERA in Jacksonville, and 12-9 with a 3.15 ERA overall this year, but the youngster from Long Beach has lost some velocity as the season progressed and the Dodgers are worried about fatigue, which is a good enough reason to rule him out. Taking a chance on someone who is still developing is one thing. Physical risk is another.

Wells isn't just a longshot solution. He's an unimaginative long-shot solution with no long-term benefits. Somewhere, there had to be a better way to address the problem.

— Contact Star columnist David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com.