Pirates make smart move, name Correia Opening Day starter

By Jeff

The Pittsburgh Pirates today named Kevin Correia their Opening Day starter and said Paul Maholm will start the home opener.

Correia was terrible last year and is 1-2 this spring with a 6.38 ERA. Not exactly ace material, so why is this a good move? Simple. If you are a avid reader of this blog you might remember this post about how the past 10 Pirates Opening Day starters went on to terrible seasons.

Well, it was my fear that the Buccos would throw James McDonald out there for Opening Day, setting him up to be terrible for the rest of the season. Fortunately, the team must have read the blog and decided that it would be best to make Correia the sacrificial lamb. If someone if going to be terrible this year, you want it to be someone you expect nothing from.

Only in Pittsburgh does a 5.40 ERA the previous year
 earn you the ball on Opening Day.

Correia has little trade value and is just filling space until the Pirates' top prospects are ready to jump to the big leagues. McDonald and Ross Ohlendorf have the potential to be good. The choice was obvious to throw Correia to the wolves.

In all seriousness (Well, everything above is serious. Just look at recent history and you'll see it's not just a cooky theory.), is there a worse Opening Day starter in the bigs this year than Correia? Opening Day is the most exciting day in baseball. It's the time where everyone is 0-0 and technically has a shot at the playoffs. Optimism is high for all teams, even the Pirates. It's the game where you usually throw out your ace pitcher. Yet here are the Bucs going with Correia.

Yikes.

The man's spring stats certainly don't warrant this honor. Correia was 10-10 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.49 WHIP last season, so it's not like he earned the start from that performance.

Clearly the Pirates don't want to jinx one of their younger pitchers with potential for decent years by giving them the dreaded Opening Day start. You may not agree with a lot of the Pirates' moves, but this one was a no-brainer.

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