Who Should Replace Bedard in the Rotation?

The Pirates cut Erik Bedard this week after another rough start from the left-hander. We're past that now and on to trying to figure out who should take his spot in the rotation.

After the Pirates conclude their series with the Cardinals tonight, they have an off day on Thursday before going to Milwaukee for a three game set. Because of the off day, the Pirates are going to roll with a four man rotation. So here's the pitching probables:

Wednesday vs. Cardinals: Wandy Rodriguez
Friday at Brewers: Jeff Karstens
Saturday at Brewers: A.J. Burnett
Sunday at Brewers: James McDonald
Monday vs. Astros: Wandy Rodriguez

Tuesday is when the problem comes in. Karstens will have only had three days rest, so the Pirates will need someone else to make the start.

Kevin Correia is still in the bullpen and he immediately became the front runner to fill the void. I'm not so sure the Pirates will go that direction though. Here are your other options with their 2012 stats:

Kevin Correia: 25 G, 22 GS, 4.53 ERA, 4.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 1.344 WHIP
Justin Wilson: 27 G, 25 GS, 3.82 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 1.169 WHIP
Jeff Locke: 23 G, 23 GS, 2.56 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 1.190 WHIP
Kyle McPherson: 12 G, 12 GS, 3.22 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 1.2 BB/9, 1.104 WHIP (9 starts in AA)
Chris Leroux: 22 G, 8 GS, 3.10 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 1.035 WHIP

Note that Leroux isn't currently on the 40 man roster, but there is a spot available after the release of Bedard.

Correia is by far the worst pitcher up there by statistics, obviously he's been pitching at a higher level the entire year so you would expect that, but I still don't think anybody would argue that he's not the best pitcher listed. Management has been pretty consistent this year in showing that they would rather play veterans instead of rookies, and that could factor into the equation here.

Leroux has some major league experience. In his career he's pitched 54.1 innings in the show, however he's never made a major league start. He had a lot of success last year in the Pirates bullpen, putting up a 2.88 ERA while striking out 8.6 batters per nine. That could give him a leg up on the competition.

Wilson and Locke have an advantage because they are both left handed. Typically, big league rotations want to have at least two lefties in the rotation, although just having one isn't uncommon either. If the Pirates want to keep the two lefty look, they'll have to pick one of these guys. Both of them have been up for brief periods of time, but only because the Pirates had a tired bullpen and needed some innings from them to help everyone else get rested. The Pirates had opportunities to get these two guys starts earlier in the year when Brad Lincoln was spot starting and Correia was pitching poorly, but they elected to keep them in the minor leagues. That doesn't bode well for them. If the Pirates weren't comfortable with them in a May game, why would they be comfortable with them in one of the season's final 30 games when the team is in contention for a playoff spot?

If it is one of these two, I would expect it to be Wilson. He has a better arm and a better fastball, which is what you would look for with a guy that you need immediate success from. Locke may be a better pitcher and a better bet down the line, but Wilson seems to give you a better chance to win games right now.

McPherson is a guy that I don't really think has much of a chance. He's only made three starts above the AA level along with two innings of major league relief after that 19 inning game when the Pirates had to burn the next day's starting pitcher. They probably really didn't want to call him up then, and I'm sure they don't want to rush him up now. There are other options, so I really don't think McPherson should even be considered here.

If it were my choice to make I'd take Wilson, but I really do think it's going to be either Leroux or Correia. Leroux isn't a bad option, he has a good arm and has had big league success before. We know what we're going to get from Correia and honestly it's not a whole lot better than what we were getting from Bedard.

We've got some time to speculate and talk about it, as the Pirates won't need to make this decision until Monday or Tuesday sometime. Let me know what you think.