Time to...

 ...pull off the bandaid.

Look, all of us would love to have each of our pitching prospects turn out to be starters.  

But that isn't the reality.    There are only 5 starting pitcher positions and, at the present, they are all filled.

So, what do you do with the excess?

Guys like Battenfield, Morris, Curry and Gaddis, in my opinion, are better suited for the bullpen than the rotation. Tim Herrin has already made that transition.  I think these other guys should, too.

Our competitive window is wide open right now.  We have relief pitchers who are injured.  Even if that wasn't true we have just enough relief pitchers in the majors and, really, only one, Tim Herrin, who is even projectable to is in the minors but projectable to be in the majors.

In my opinion the time is now to transition these guys to full-time bullpen roles.  Get them used to closing games.  In my experience, majors or minors, if you are closing games it translates pretty well to middle relief or setup work in the bullpen AND, long term, it allows the guys with the best disposition for it to be closers in the future.

Like everything else in baseball, experience is often the best teacher.  I think it is time to prepare these guys to be relievers in the majors.  Injuries happen.  Poor performance happens.  Relievers can have uneven performance from year to year.  You do need more than 5 good starters but you need more than 8 good relievers, too.

In my opinion, it is time to rip off the bandaid and transition these guys to the bullpen.   Their stuff supports a bullpen role, just like Stephan's did when we got him.  

This is our competitive window.  Let's barge through it.