Free agent right-hander and Butler native Matt Clement has received interest from six major league clubs thus far this off-season, agent Barry Axelrod said Tuesday.

"It's still very early in the signing process,"Axelrod cautioned. "Talks have been very preliminary, if that.

"Talk is cheap. Just because a team contacts us and says it may be interested doesn't mean it's serious."

Clement, 33, is 14 months removed from shoulder surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2007 season. He was 6-6 with a 6.61 earned run average with the Boston Red Sox in 2006 before injury problems ended his season in June of that year.

The Red Sox are not among the teams interested in signing Clement.

"With the depth they have in pitching and the young guys that are coming up, pitching isn't a big priority for them now,"Axelrod said of the Red Sox.

Though he declined to name the six teams to approach him, Axelrod conceded that the Pirates and Cleveland Indians are two of them.

Clement nearly signed with Cleveland before accepting a three-year deal with Boston in 2005.

"Matt spent a lot of time with the Indians organization that off-season,"Axelrod said. "They got to know him and Matt got to know them. They're comfortable with each other."

The agent said Clement's health is no longer a question mark.

"After the surgery he had, there's 12 to 18 months of recovery time,"Axelrod said. "Matt was major league-ready in September and we were hoping the Red Sox would give him a couple of opportunities. But with the pennant race going how it did, that didn't work out.

"He went down to the instructional league in Fort Myers (Fla.) and pitched a couple of games. He did fine and was told to go home. He had nothing more to prove.

"Right now, Matt's back on his regular off-season conditioning program,"Axelrod added.

Clement is one of 30 free agent starting pitchers on the market this off-season. There are 11 older than him and three of those — Tom Glavine with Atlanta, Greg Maddux with San Diego and Curt Schilling with Boston — have already signed.

Other "name" pitchers on the market include Kris Benson, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Livan Hernandez, Russ Ortiz, Kenny Rogers and Carlos Silva.

"Unlike most years, there are no really big names on the open market, like a Barry Zito or Carl Pavano,"Axelrod said.

"It's hard to guage when Matt will sign ... maybe early, maybe late."

Colon, Jon Lieber and Randy Wolf are other free agent pitchers coming off arm problems.

"A one-year deal is still a probability here, but you never know,"Axelrod said. "All it takes is one wild offer to somebody to throw everything out of whack. I wouldn't rule out a two or three-year deal just yet. Anything can happen."