(Ortiz notes) the Astros will go with a four-man rotation for the first turn in the rotation. The fifth starter won’t be needed until April 15.

Footer speculates that would mean the 5th starter, probably Russ Ortiz, would make one start in the Minor Leagues.

But maybe not,
Wandy Rodriguez will be pushed back to Tuesday because of a bruised left index finger, ..

“It just hurts a lot and feels like it’s going to bleed when I throw my curveball. I even tried to [poke] it with a needle (Saturday night) to get the blood out of there, but the blood is still on the tip.”

“I tried to throw my curveball in the bullpen without putting the pressure on the finger, but I didn’t even reach it to the plate,” he said. “It bounced way before it got there.”

Speculation is that Wandy wont have enough starts left to be ready for the season, so he might need a start in the minors also, which makes Mike Hampton on schedule as number 2 in the rotation.

And Footer says
The way things are going, I wouldn’t be at all shocked if Wandy was not ready to start the season, which would allow for both Ortiz and Jose Capellan to make this team.

Moehler seems OK,
Struck by a line drive in his last appearance, the official diagnosis is a contusion — a bruise — of the right shoulder, but Moehler said he would be surprised if he didn’t make his next start. Moehler’s only regret was that he threw only 27 pitches, falling for short of the 85-pitch mark he planned to reach in this outing.

“That was my concern,” Moehler said. “I told [pitching coach] Dewey [Robinson], I didn’t get a lot of pitches in today, but he said I’ve got two more starts.”

Which is good because Backe isn’t an option
Brandon Backe will start the season on the disabled list, general manager Ed Wade confirmed late Sunday morning.

It’s no surprise that Backe will not be ready for the regular season, but the club had two options regarding the right-hander: place him on the disabled list, or, if he had healed from his injury and resumed pitching by April 1, release him and only be responsible for a portion of his $1.55 million contract.
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The utility infielder spot has come down to either Jason Smith or Edwin Maysonet. The Astros want someone who can play short, not just play at short. Both can be sent back to the minors.

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Chris Johnson said, “we were taking ground balls the very first day we were out there, and [Boone] said, ‘Hey why don’t you try this?’ He didn’t even know me. He spent a lot of time talking with me and working with me. I’m not thinking of myself right now. I’m worried about him.”
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“… so we’re down to two guys (Ortiz and Capellan),” Cooper said.

Those are the pitchers the Astros are looking at to fill the 5 spot in a rotation of Oswalt, Rodriguez, Moehler, and Hampton.

Nieve has been picked off waivers by the Mets, Backe’s injury is worse than first thought, (“He’s not worse; he’s not better,” Cooper said. “There’s not a lot of progress.” and Footer thinks he could start the season on the DL) Hensley has been moved to relief work, Paulino hasn’t been effective and Alberto Arias hasn’t impressed anyone either.

Regarding Capellan, Dewey Robinson says, “it’s all about counts and command.”    “He’s locating, he’s doing everything we ask. He’s challenging the hitters early in the count, strike one, giving himself a chance to really be effective. He’s changing speeds. He’s doing everything he possibly can to win a job.”

GM Wade assesses the situation, “I like the way both Ortiz and Capellan have thrown since the beginning of camp…The question will be how they handle things once they get stretched out. …Hopefully, (by the end of ST) Backe’s health issues will be resolved and he’ll have a chance to step up and compete as well.”

Berkman is counting on Ortiz, while explaining the Astros’ chances, he says “Hampton has to stay healthy, and Russ Ortiz has to make the rotation and be the guy that he was three or four years ago. The good news is I’ve seen some flashes of that. The guy can pitch, no doubt about it.”
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And then there’s Roy
Oswalt set an early tone (WBC elimination game) on Sunday. Baffling The Netherlands with a 94 mph fastball and a 79 mph changeup, he tossed four scoreless innings, striking out five while not issuing a walk. The Astros right-hander exited after 70 pitches….

“I told Roy last night when we got on the bus, ‘I don’t know if they make big-game pitchers down in Mississippi,'” Jimmy Rollins said to Oswalt. “He said this wasn’t his first rodeo and he came and proved it.”
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What could have been? Don’t think about this too hard.
OregonStrosFan alerted me to this article Link Wherein we are told,

Wade has often been reminded that his first trade as the Astros’ general manager was sending Lidge to the Phillies,…Wade said that before he made the deal with the Phillies he discussed an offer from the Cleveland Indians that would have sent Lidge to the Indians for starter Cliff Lee,

But not the 2008, 22-3, Cy Young, Cliff Lee, this Cliff Lee

Lee … suffered a right abdominal strain early in spring training (2007). He didn’t make his first start until May 3, and without an exhibition season in which to properly refine his new style, he was unable to execute it when the games counted. …”In my rehab assignments I was trying to work on those new things, and really wasn’t working on what had made me successful in the past,” Lee says. “Then when I got back to the big leagues, the stuff I used to have wasn’t there.”

He found that he could no longer pound the inside of the plate, and the result was an ineffective mishmash of the old and the new Lee. Opposing batters teed off on him….

Lee’s nadir came during a four-start stretch in July in which he allowed 26 earned runs. … (then) Lee was booed off the mound by his home fans after the Red Sox had taken a 7–1 lead in the fifth inning, and he derisively tipped his cap to the crowd. …the next day, the Indians sent him down to Buffalo. He was recalled in September, but he didn’t make another start and was left off the playoff roster.
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