More likely than not, something will happen to one of the current starting 5. Either someone will get hurt or the low K-ing ways of Lohse, Piniero, and Looper will catch up with one of them. When that happens, I say Garcia gets the first shot as long as he is still kicking butt in AAA and Carp isn’t ready to go.

This was a guy who was hurt last year—he’s looked dominant so far, but it’s hard to tell if he’d hold up through a whole season in the rotation.

I don’t understand the fascination with replacing anyone in the current rotation. The starters are in the top 10 in the MLB as a unit!!!

Piniero isn’t going anywhere unless he gets hurt—he’s been fairly effective so far, much more effective than someone like Lohse, who is on a one year contract and could be traded at the deadline to someone looking to sign him long term.

Currently I don’t see any need to mess with the rotation—let Garcia get starts in AAA and build himself up mentally and physically, then let him ease into the rotation next year. What’s the big hurry to get to the future anyway?

I can see this happening later in the season, post-All-Star Break. He’s a lefty, and with Johnson still out in IR Land with no updates, Flores stinking it up, and Villone up-and-down thanks to the workload, I can see the Cardinals promoting him to the MLB bullpen to get his feet wet.

Depending on how he does (in Memphis, as well), he’ll probably get a shot at the rotation next season.