And besides, the two pitchers are completely different. Buch was much more polished coming out of college and more advanced as a pitcher than Bowden was coming out of high school. Bowden still needs work in the minors to refine his three pitches and get his changeup figured out. Buchholz, in the middle of last year, was simply dominating AAA opponents. He had nothing left to prove. Bowden is a completely different case, where he still has development that is needed. Also, we don’t need a great pitcher being our No. 5 starter, just a league average one (one who’ll give you about a 4.5 era), which is exactly what Paul Byrd is. I love the move because it gives Buchholz more time to figure out his whole deal with his confidence and what not, and we don’t have to rush anyone to the majors to fill his spot.

It’s kind of impossible to do that. When you move a pitcher from a starter to a reliever or reliever to starter, they need to have time to work up stamina. When going from a starter to a reliever, one needs to be able to get the stamina to pitch consecutive games, and when going from a reliever to a starter one needs to get the stamina to throw 6-7 innings. That’s why Masterson needed a couple of weeks to switch. You can’t just continue to switch back and forth from starter to reliever, and he is staying as a reliever for the rest of the season, and that is not going to change. What’s your issue with Byrd anyways? He’s been about a 4.5 ERA pitcher, which is GREAT for a fifth starter, and can really help us. What’s the problem?