hey casejud, welcome.

all of your questions are good ones. Balestar did enough last year to be a virtual lock for the Nats starting rotation next year. right now, there are very few locks. let’s take a look.

Lannan and Balestar are certainties. Lannan went 9-15 with a 3.91 and showed he really can pitch. with a little offensive support, he’s a legit #2-3 on a good team. Balestar’s overall numbers don’t show it (3-7, 5.51), but his K/BB rate was decent for a rookie, and he was feast or famine, either looking really good or really terrible. a horrendous spring is the only thing keeping him out of the rotation.

as for the rest? well, they’ll probably make an offer to Redding to avid arbitration. he gave them 180 innings of dependability. Odalis Perez is a free agent and pitched well enough (4.34 ERA) that he may have priced himself out of DC. so if they bring Redding back and Perez goes, that leaves two spots.

the realistic in-house candidate include: Shairon Martis, who was pushed around a little bit but showed good “stuff” in five September appearances; Garrett Mock, who honestly is better suited for the pen with his stuff and make-up, Jason Bergmann, who the team basically banished to the bullpen despite good peripheral numbers, and Jordan Zimmerman, who GM Jim Bowden announced was a candidate, but realistically is not ready.

i don’t think Clippard is on the big club’s radar anymore.

i don’t see the Nats starting the season with two of those four in the rotation. the guess here is that one of the four come north out of spring training, most likely Martis, and they go out and sign someone very comparable to Redding—someone who’ll give them 180 decent innings and allow Zimmermann and Detwiler and others some more seasoning. maybe a Kip Wells or Josh Fogg type.

Mock and Bergmann will join Hanrahan, Hinckley, Rivera, Shell, Colome and another lefty (FA possible) in the bullpen.