Erik Bedard Stayed Healthy

When the Pirates signed Erik Bedard in the offseason, everybody's hope was simply that he would stay healthy. The belief was that if he stayed healthy, he wouldn't have much trouble pitching well, especially in the National League Central.

Bedard did what we wanted him to do by staying healthy, the problem was that he just didn't get too many batters out.

The Pirates will officially release Erik Bedard today after another bad start raised his season ERA to 5.01 on the year. He gave up 9.2 hits per nine this year, one of them being a home run. He walked 4.0 per nine, and posted 8.5 strikeouts per nine. Those numbers are surprisingly bad for a guy that has posted a career 3.85 ERA and 8.4 hits per nine. All of that despite starting the year very well. Since May 16, Bedard has a 5.96 ERA and the Pirates have gone 6-11 in games he's started.

So now the question becomes who will replace him. The options seem to be Kevin Correia, Chris Leroux, Justin Wilson, and Jeff Locke. Wilson and Locke are left-handed, which could help their case. Correia has made a bunch of starts for the Pirates this year and has done an overall decent job with them, which might make him a front runner when we consider how the Pirates have dealt with these kinds of things so far this year (Daniel McCutchen/Chad Qualls over Bryan Morris in the bullpen). Leroux and Wilson have the best arms of the group, so I personally am hoping the Pirates give the job to one of those two.

Wilson is the one I want to see. Right now the Pirates have just one lefty in the rotation in Wandy Rodriguez, so adding another southpaw would be beneficial. Wilson throws the ball hard and has had a very nice year in AAA Indianapolis. I would be okay with Leroux making some starts as well. He's pitched from the bullpen in the major leagues and is doing a nice job in Indy's rotation. In 21 appearances (seven starts) Leroux has a 3.11 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.

I would almost be surprised if it's not Correia who makes the starts, but either way I'll be pretty upset if that's what the Pirates choose to do.