Evan Grant has his latest projection of the Rangers' Opening Day roster up, and the big change is that he has Brandon McCarthy dropping out of the starting rotation, being replaced by Matt Harrison.
Grant has McCarthy going to the bullpen, and suggests that he could "shadow" Rich Harden, being available on Harden's days to pitch multiple innings.
I am not wild about McCarthy being put in the bullpen...I think if he's not going to be in the rotation, and you don't think you can slip him through revocable waivers, you try to find a deal out there and move him. He's show himself to be a good, not great, starting pitcher who has issues staying healthy, and while he isn't going to bring back a ton, he's going to have some value, particularly for a team that might be finding itself a starter short because of injuries or whatever reason at the end of spring training. And given that he relies on good command and throwing multiple pitches for strikes, rather than velocity, I'm not sure how effective he'd be in the bullpen, relative to the other options that are available.