SURPRISE, Ariz. -- C.J. Wilson was solid in three innings of work Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners. His outing wasn't perfect, but there was clearly a buzz in the clubhouse following his impressive performance. It appears that his campaign to start might have picked up momentum.

With Neftali Feliz getting banged around Wednesday, Brandon McCarthy doing little to stand out and Derek Holland getting a late start because of his knee injury, the fifth starter's job is beginning to have the look of a two-horse race between Wilson and Matt Harrison.

Wilson has been informed that a final decision on his role will be made as early as Monday, but no later than March 20. Those dates are of particular interest, as he is scheduled to pitch on each of those days. It sounds as if another strong outing on Monday will earn him one last audition on the 20th.

However, if he has a less than stellar outing Monday, the experiment will probably end and he'll head back to the bullpen.

He not only has to beat out Harrison to win the job, he also has to beat out C.J. Wilson -- the reliever. If he looks good as a starter, but maybe only good enough to go 10-10 on the season, he'll be a reliever, where his value is not an X factor. If he looks like he could truly be special as a starter, he'll win the job.

Wilson has to prove that his value as a starter will be higher than his value as one of the better bullpen lefties in baseball. To do that, he will need to be sensational in his next two starts.

He'll join us for an hour of broadcasting on Thursday to discuss the race for the fifth spot as well as many other glorious topics.