Who Should The Pirates Opening Day Starter Be?

It's incredibly early to write this post, but I kind of just wanted to beat everyone else to the punch.

The Pittsburgh Pirates open up their 2012 season on April 5th at home against the Philadelphia Phillies. That means Roy Halladay. So who will the Pirates roll out against him? There are six options, sort of. In ALPHABETICAL order (for the sake of SUSPENSE), the options are: Erik Bedard, Kevin Correia, Jeff Karstens, Brad Lincoln, James McDonald, and Charlie Morton.

Right off the bat, we can scratch off Morton and Lincoln. Morton isn't going to be healthy enough to pitch in early April, and Lincoln isn't nearly good enough to even be considered (he probably won't even be in the rotation to start the season). That leaves us with four pitchers that you could make an argument for.

Alphabetic option one is Bedard. The new guy that has proven himself to be a solid big league pitcher in the past. When he's healthy, he's a very good starter, almost surely better than everyone else in the rotation.

Second is last year's Opening Day starter, Kevin Correia. The guy has done it before and was successful last year at the beginning of the season. He went to an all-star game and OMIGOSH HE WAS A WINNER!

Third is Karstens, who had the most success of any pitcher at the major league level for the Pirates last season. He pitched very well for most of the season and showed the ability to keep even the best hitters off balance.

The fourth and final option is my man James McDonald. I think he's got the best stuff on the staff and he'll probably be my pick to have the best season for the Bucs this year. He's filthy when he's on, but he struggles a lot with efficiency. Also, he struggled a lot in his first few starts last year, which could be a red flag.

If it were up to me, I'd run Bedard out there. First of all, like I said, he's the most established of the starters and he's been in more "big games" (not that Opening Day is a "big game", but the platform is certainly elevated a bit). Also, the Pirates making a free agent sign their Opening Day starter for the two straight years could make them more appealing to other free agents. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it would show that they believe in the guys they bring in and are willing to put them ahead of the guys they have developed themselves.

My second choice would be McDonald, because of the stuff and the McEffect. After that I'd take Karstens, followed by Correia.

At the end of the day, this really does not make a difference. Opening Day is just another game and by the end of the season everything balances out. It would certainly be a good start to the season beating Halladay and the Phillies, but it really isn't any more important than any other game when you look at it in retrospect.