Have We Found A Winner?

This race for the 5th starter is slowly starting to come to an end.

After already eliminating Jason Schmidt and Jeff Weaver as possible 5th starters earlier this Spring Training, Shawn Estes was eliminated early this week.

The big four contenders left were: Eric Stults, Claudio Vargas, Eric Milton, and James McDonald.

Stults (12.96 ERA in 8.1 innings) and Vargas (8.22 ERA in 15.1 innings) have had awful Springs so far. Stults has apparently had some bad personal issues off the field, but unfortunately, the fact remains, he's been really bad.

So it's really come down to Milton and McDonald. Well, both pitchers pitched today. Let's see how they did:

James McDonald - 3.0 innings, no runs, three strikeouts, lowered his ERA to 4.70. Not bad.

Ok, how 'bout Milton?

Eric Milton - 2.2 innings, six earned runs, raised his ERA to 7.27.

Wow Milton, you trying to catch Vargas there? This comes after Milton gave up eight runs (one earned) in his last appearance.

So were does that leave us?

Well, Pedro still hasn't signed anywhere. But other than that, it's starting to look more and more like we ought to turn it over to McDonald.

He's young, he's got some good stuff, and most importantly, he's our best option.

And I'm pretty comfortable with that.