Pitcher Mike Mussina will likely make a decision on whether to retire or return for his 19th season in Major League Baseball at the end of this week or early next week, according to his agent Arn Tellem.

Mussina, who is a free agent, won 20 games for the first time in his big-league career last season while playing for the New York Yankees. The right-hander is 30 wins short of 300, a milestone that unofficially guarantees pitchers a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Twenty-three pitchers have 300 or more victories in MLB history and all of the eligible players have a plaque at the shrine in Cooperstown, New York.

The Yankees are making starting pitching their top priority in the offseason after the club ended its streak of 13 straight playoff appearances. New York already offered a contract to free-agent CC Sabathia that would set a record for a pitcher and will send contract offers this week to pitchers A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, according to media reports.

New York signed Mussina, who'll turn 40 next month, to a two-year, $23 million deal before the 2007 season. At the end of last season he said he was leaning toward retirement.

Mussina went 20-9 with a 3.37 earned run average this year, rebounding from an 11-10 season in 2007 in which his career-high 5.15 ERA temporarily relegated him to the bullpen.