I wonder if this would make them lean towards keeping Patrick in the bullpen. Obviously a good starter is way more valuable than a good reliever, but given how dominant Patrick was out of the bullpen, if they feel good about, say, Henderson or Gasser, do they stash him there for another year and then move him into the rotation after that.
Megill, Uribe, Koenig, Ashby, Patrick is a heck of an A team.
I suspect what actually happens is they will keep multiple starters in AAA and let it work itself out.