Richard Durrett discusses Eric Hurley's role in 2008, and whether he should spend the whole season in AAA, or take his lumps at the major league level.
Personally, my feeling is that unless Hurley is lights out in spring training, and someone from the expected Opening Day rotation isn't healthy, Hurley should start the season at Oklahoma.
My ideal scenario would be for him to go down there, dominate AAA hitters for three months, and then come up around Independence Day and spend 6-8 weeks working out of the pen. If and when a rotation slot opens up in the second half of the season, you can slot him in there, but it seems like it would make more sense to break him in working out of the pen, if possible.
Then, if all goes well, he comes into 2009 pencilled into the rotation and ready to go...