Hey, what's a spare left-handed starter (#4 in the 2010 depth chart!) doing behind the door?

Chris Narveson was the recycled Cardinals starter who Brewers fans really didn't discuss. As a minor league free agent, there wasn't the salary to complain about. He settled in as a swingman by the end of his 2009 return to the major leagues. He did a great job filling in for Manny Parra in the rotation in September, as we'll see in the chart.

The other thing to note about Narveson is that his presence in a team's organization seems to confer luck. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 2000 and traded to the Rockies in 2004. The Cards made it to the WS that year. Narveson was then traded to the Red Sox in 2005 and was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals later. Despite his absence, the Rox and Sox made it to the WS in 2007 (but he was in their systems recently!) Narveson, of course, pitched at one point for the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers signed him as a free agent for the 2008 season. Could this mean...?

More seriously, he was one of three Brewers pitchers to have double-digit strikeouts in a start in 2009.