[redsof72]

Look at it this way: They are not going to DFA a guy if they think he is one of their five best starters. Right now for 2010 you have Harang, Arroyo, Cueto, and Bailey. The fifth spot would be a battle between Wells, Maloney, Lehr, Owings, and maybe Wood, although I suspect that if they wanted Wood in that battle, they would have called him up when the Bats season ended to get a look. Of the other four, Owings is currently in the bullpen, Maloney and Lehr are getting spot starts (partly due to injury) and they are giving the ball to Wells every fifth day and he's doing pretty darn well so far. I see the same thing you folks do when I look at Wells' numbers over the last five years, but I doubt if Dusty really cares about that. He sees what he sees. WJ has to make some decisions. I know this much: no team would release a starting pitcher if they thought he was one of their five best starters. And yes, there are plenty of similarities to Jimmy Haines, Jimmy Anderson, etc. That is why Walt makes the big bucks. He has to make the best decision and he will have plenty of people in his ear and they won't all be singing the same song. Fifth starters who can be anything better than a complete disaster are hard to find for small market teams, lets face it.