Quick story first: About 12 years ago, we visited New York as part of the first modern day Great Baseball Road Trip. At the time, our grandmother (now deceased) was still living on Long Island in the nice little beach community of Long Beach. We took the train out there and spent the better part of a day with her. As we sat near the ocean, most likely eating ice cream, a hot air balloon drifted by in the distance. Our grandmother exclaimed, squinting: "What is that? Some sort of dirigible or zeppelin?"

We think of that from time to time, and it makes us smile. In fact, we thought of it while looking for an image for this post -- depicting Led Zeppelin's song "Kashmir." That brings it back to the real focus: Potentially cheap, high-upside starting pitchers the Twins could make low-risk runs at, a la reliever Joel Zumaya. So we looked at MLB Trade Rumors, and these four names popped out:

Brandon Webb.

Rich Harden.

Scott Kazmir (hence the image search).

Zach Duke.

As a Wisconsin native, Terry Ryan probably doesn't enjoy Packer jokes as much as we do. But we do share a love of a good bargain. So we have to think that even with the marquee acquisition of Jason Marquis, he could be mulling feast-or-famine options that could come at a significantly lower price than the fragile Roy Oswalt.

For our money (and Ryan's), Webb is the most interesting option. He's not young (33 this season), and he's only pitched one game total in the past three years because of injuries. But you're talking about a guy -- when healthy -- who had a Cy Young and two runner-up finishes from 2006-08. He was a workhorse. If he is truly back to feeling "strong and loose," he might have the most upside on a low-money one-year deal. He also fit the mold of a good control pitcher during his heyday. The risk, of course, is that you eat the money -- as Texas did last year.

Harden and Kazmir are also tantalizing because they can, when healthy, be lights-out dominant. Duke will only be 29 this year, but aside from his rookie year bolt of lightning he hasn't shown himself as a consistent starter. Still, he's a lefty with at least a smidgen of a track record (even making the All-Star game in 2009, albeit with Pittsburgh).

What do you think: Out of these four, anyone worth taking a chance on? Or someone else from the free agent list? Or stick with who is on the current roster?