I know that I'm in the minority here at RR, but I'm not at all sold on Micah Owings as the #5 starter in the 2009 rotation. Now I don't have the statistical expertise to create interesting and informative charts and graphs or the where-with-al to talk about his WHIP or strike outs to walks ratio, etc  to prove my point or defend my position.  BUT -  I see this guy as a 3W and 6L pitcher who gets hit hard almost every game by the 5th or 6th inning - provided he makes it that far. His pitches don't have great movement and his delivery is such that his fastball tends to 'flatten out'.He does have a decent curve ball , but has control problems and tends to walk too many batters.  Maybe he'd be better as a reliever...certainly Nick Masset couldn't do any worse than Micah as the 5th starter. My thinking is that Masset would be more consistent at the very least.

         I view Owings to be better suited as an outfielder and a power hitter. I believe that he has a passion for hitting that is greater than his interest in pitching. Yes I've heard the argument that his hitting flaws would soon be discovered and that MLB pitchers would exploit them and that he'd have to go to AAA to learn to hit. But,I'd like to see if those reason have a degree of  truthiness or is it that some folks just don't want him to stop pitching. Micah has a lot of athletic talent and he has pitched with some success at the MLB, but he can hit a baseball very  hard and for a long long way.

        His chances of developing into a 'star level' hitter appear much greater than as a 'star 5th starter'. If he'd have to go to Louisville for a month or 6 weeks to work on his hitting, it may be worth it...cause barring an act of God (cause it ain't going to be Dick Pole) that would cause him to become a significantly better pitcher,  he's not going to be that big of a help for the 2009 Reds...he ain't got it.  His best attributes are at the plate not 60'6" in front of it.