With the addition of a new SP prospect in McDonald, I got to thinking of our solid Altoona rotation and what we may be able to expect next season as far as the rotation goes.

To recap here's some general stats for the main four down in Altoona:

Rudy Owens 22 - 20 starts, 2.92 ERA, 7.6 SO/9, 1.5 BB/9

Bryan Morris 23 - 13 starts, 4.21 ERA, 9.00 SO/9  3.4 BB/9

Justin Wilson 23 - 19 starts, 3.06 ERA, 8.10 SO/9, 4.1 BB/9

Jeff Locke 22 soon 23 - 4 starts, 1.96 ERA, 8.6 SO/9, 1.6 BB/9

Owens is clearly the one who will advance to AAA first, and probably the Majors first if that transition goes smoothly. I'm just wondering what the timetable everyone sees for the arrival of these guys is, or if you see all staying in the organization? We can probably deal one of these arms in addition to something else (Doumit? Jones?) and maybe get a promising SS.

It seems like we may have a bit of a logjam at SP next season. All four of these guys should be out of AA (Maybe not Locke) relatively soon next season. That will leave us with Owens, Morris, Wilson, Morton, Lincoln, Veal, Hart, DCutch, McDonald, Karstens, all in that AAA - Back of the rotation majors grey area. I suppose it's a good thing to have options (Although not all good options), I guess my only concern is that these Altoona kids will be held back because they don't have space in either AAA or the ML-Team.

Has NH given any sort of timetable for what to expect? I know he's generally against that sort of thing, I'm just curious to hear what he plans on doing if four pitchers in AA continue to have success and push the envelope.