Why is Brad Lincoln Starting Saturday?

The Pirates waited until yesterday to announce that Brad Lincoln would be making another start for the Pirates as they await the return of Jeff Karstens. It was interesting why they waited until Wednesday to make the decision, but I have an idea as to why they did it that way.

Last week, I wrote this post detailing why I wanted to see Rudy Owens come up and start for Lincoln on Saturday and then eventually take Kevin Correia's job. Personally, I think the Pirates were considering doing just that until Correia won his start on Wednesday (which actually wasn't a great start, throwing nearly 100 pitches in less than 6 innings). If Correia would have gotten roughed up in that start, I really do think Owens would be up here starting Saturday and then competing for Correia's job.

This is something that I could easily be wrong about, it was just weird that they waited to decide until after Correia's start. The team can't actually feel comfortable with Correia starting, and they have to realize that Owens could very well do a much better job than him in the rotation, but for some reason they insist on leaving him in the rotation. His start on Wednesday saved his job for a couple more weeks, in my eyes.

The other possibility is that they might have been thinking that Karstens could return early and start a game this weekend, and they were just waiting for that option to be out of the running to give the ball back to Lincoln. I doubt that's true, because Huntington has said the last thing he wants to do is rush a pitcher back from injury.

Rudy Owens isn't going to come up in a spot start situation, which is probably what this Saturday would be, but I think it should be more than that. He should start this weekend and move Lincoln to the bullpen, and then move Correia to the bullpen or off the team entirely when Karstens returns. For whatever reason, the Pirates aren't fielding their best team right now, and I'm confused by it.