Heading into spring training the Pirates rotation doesn’t look to have many vacancies. After solid seasons by right-handers Charlie Morton, James McDonald and Jeff Karstens, the organization won’t have as many decisions to make this off-season.
“You look at what Charlie and James and Jeff have done this year, when Kevin [Correia] was healthy, especially the first half of the year, he did some good things,“ General Manager Neal Huntington said. “Where do we fill out our depth? We need six starters. Really five, the majority of the season once Ross went down, chances of that happening again, you just look at the odds, not very good.“
With four spots looking to be set, Ohlendorf will have one final chance to make an impression tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Ohlendorf has made just eight starts this season due to a shoulder strain that landed him on the disabled list on April 8th.
“So who’s that sixth starter, that seventh starter, that eighth starter?” Huntington said. “ Is it from within? Is it Brad Lincoln? Is it a free agent? Do we bring Paul Maholm back? Do we turn it over to one of our young guys? Do we look in the free agent market? Do we look in the trade Market? Yes. We’ll explore all options. I don’t think its wide open. We got a lot of guys who need to continue to grow and develop and show that they’re ready to take a hold of those jobs and never give them up again.”
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