Legitimate Beef - Why Not Rudy Owens?

Brad Lincoln got roughed up again today, giving up eight hits and four runs in just 3.2 innings of work. It's pretty obvious that he isn't suited to be a starter right now; I'm pretty sure it was obvious before this start actually. Despite Brad just looking terrible and not really having what it takes in the first place to be a big league starter, the Pirates continue to run him out there. In fact, they said the other day that he will make all the starts until Jeff Karstens is ready to come back, which is reported to be July 1st right now. That leaves one start left for Lincoln, barring setbacks.

Most people in Pittsburgh have been campaigning for Rudy Owens or Jeff Locke to come make a start or two, and I've been in that group myself. The reason the Pirates aren't going to do that is because they don't want these guys to just be spot starters - they want to call them up when they can be fixtures in the rotation. That makes sense to me. Jeff Karstens is coming back into the rotation when he's healthy and nobody is going to argue with that. My question is, why can't Owens/Locke have a shot at taking Correia's job?

Kevin Correia hasn't been good for the Pirates this year. He has a 4.43 ERA and a 5.59 FIP. There's no way that this guy is going to be anything better than an average 5 starter for the rest of the year. He's a free agent at the end of the year and doesn't have much trade value, so I don't understand why he's not expendable. There's a very good chance that Owens and Locke are better options than Correia at this point, so why wouldn't the Pirates give them a chance to prove it and make this team better? They don't owe Correia anything, if he's not the best guy for the job he shouldn't be playing. He has no long term contract and there's very little chance the Pirates would even consider bringing him back for next year with all the guys they have that will be competing for jobs next year.

Rudy Owens has been phenomenal in AAA this year. He has a 2.34 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 13 starts. Locke has also had a nice season with a 3.27 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 12 starts. Both of those guys have a chance to be much better than Correia as soon as now, and they have played enough in AAA and shown enough to say that they are definitely ready for the call up.

If it were up to me, I'd call Owens up right now and start him on Saturday. I'd then find a way to have him take Correia's spot when Karstens comes back, and just move Correia to the bullpen for a bit. If he makes 3-4 starts and seems like he can handle it, I'd trade Correia to the first team that offered me anything at all for him. If Owens doesn't seem ready, I'd try Locke and maybe even a Rick VandenHurk or a Jo-Jo Reyes before letting Correia start again.

Calling one of these guys up now doesn't have to just be in a spot start situation. They should be considered for Correia's job. This team is contending and should be fielding the best roster possible, and they aren't doing that right now. Even if Correia would get better this year, it wouldn't be worth much because he's not signed past this year and they aren't going to have any real motivation to bring him back next year. This is a high reward low risk situation and the Pirates aren't capitalizing.

Normally I defer to smarter people's judgement, but in this case I honestly do think Huntington and company are handling this one wrong.