This is really a series of mid rotation and replacement starters:

52 NL starters have pitched 100 innings thus far. Ranked by runs prevented (against league average), Chad Gaudin is 40^th, Kevin Correia is 42^nd, and Braden Looper is 44^th. If a league’s talent pool – from which a 5-man rotation was drawn – were prorated for 52 starters instead of 80, each of these starters would qualify as 5^th starters. Of course, the actual talent pool isn’t prorated so rigidly, and really, the fact that these pitchers have already pitched 100 innings proves that they are not really 5^th starters.

(Of course, when divided among 16 teams, a list of 52 pitchers is more accurately divided into spots 1-to-3, because it is simply impossible for 52 pitchers to provide 5 options for each NL team).

In fact, when people say that the Brewers have a rotation of 5^th starters, I don’t think they realize how false that is, or just how bad a fifth starter actually performs. When all is said and done at the end of the season, list all the pitchers by innings-pitched cut-offs, and you’ll notice that by the time you get to 5^th starters, you’re either dealing with replacements, pitchers who were injured, young rookies that are struggling, or regular old journeymen.

I know the 5-man rotation is the prototype from which everyone works, but I’m not sure that true 5^th starters actually exist; and if they do, they are really bad pitchers. Thoroughly below average.

Realistically, this series is a display of 3^rd and 4^th starters.

Braden Looper (3-1, 5 GS, 4.45 runs average, 6.06 IP/GS; 2 quality starts) @ Chad Gaudin (0-3, 5 GS, 4.55 runs average, 5.94 IP/GS; 3 quality starts)

Back and forth it seems, each start, but that’s about right for Looper, who is providing the Brewers with passable middle rotation depth at the moment. As far as stretches go, he recovered from his May and June, and his July is much better; whether or not he returns to his April form remains to be seen, but he is improving and providing the Brewers with much-needed innings.

Gaudin is working as a full time starter for the first time since Oakland traded him. The fastball / slider righty is putting together a decent performance for the Padres, but not receiving much by way of support recently.

TBA @ Edward Mujica (0-0, 5 G, 7.3 IP, 5 R; 0 quality starts)

This is Jeff Suppan’s start. I seriously have no idea who will start right now.

Edward Mujica makes the first start of his MLB career on Saturday. The reliever is going through a bit of a rough stretch recently, but he throws hard and features sliders and splitters as his secondary pitches. If you want to impress your friends, tell them that the last time that Mujica started was in 2004, when he played for the Lake County Captains in the South Atlantic League. That year he went 7-7 in 26 G, 19 GS, with a 4.65 ERA.

Carlos Villanueva (0-3, 5 G, 1 GS, 8.7 IP, 13 R; 0 quality starts) @ Kevin Correia (2-2, 5 GS, 27 IP, 18 R; 2 quality starts)

The manner in which Villanueva is used in 2009 perplexes me greatly. Here’s one of the Brewers’ best relievers of the last couple of seasons, who also happens to serve as a starter / swingman (successful in 2007, not so successful as a starter in 2008); nonetheless, a strong depth arm.

In 2009, Villanueva was not stretched out in Spring Training by Macha, which seemed to be a really confusing move to me at the time. Why wouldn’t you use that time to get the kid innings, in order to build his endurance and get him ready to take whatever role was necessary? Instead, Macha took Villanueva’s multi-inning, multi-situation record and basically turned him into a one-inning reliever; subsequently, Villanueva has pitched on 0-to-1 days rest almost twice as frequently as he did in 2008 (as for 2007, Villanueva pitched more on 1-day’s rest in that season, but did not pitch nearly as much on 0 day’s rest).

Now, with the depth quickly eroding as Seth McClung turned back into Seth McClung and other AAA options failing, the Brewers are stuck in the rather difficult position of using an unprepared Villanueva as a starter: and my simple question is, how does a major league coaching staff and front office allow a player to be so blatantly misused? (1) How do you not stretch Villanueva out at some point, either in spring or out of the bullpen? (2) How do you justifiably change the work patterns of one of the best, most flexible rubber arms in the NL?

Both factors, of course, influence Villanueva’s performance because at the bottom of it, relievers are nothing more than their usage patterns.

Correia is turning a surprisingly good campaign after moving from San Francisco, putting together the best prolonged stretch as Major League starter in his career. The righty throws mainly a slider as his secondary pitch, to work off of his low-90s fastball, and he also features a curveball and change up (used much less frequently). With the Padres struggling, Correia might be a last second low rotation prize to a contending National League team, and some rumors even have him headed to Milwaukee (hopefully that's my first and last citation of MLBTrade Rumors, ever).

Which is a good thing. The Brewers could use a pitcher having a career year this year.