The Brewers are about to sign Braden Looper, which will fill out their rotation. They've come up a couple times over the past several months as a possible destination for one of our starters, but now you can go ahead and forget about that happening any time soon.
The Washburn market is just about dried up. Let's look at all 29 other teams in baseball, and see if they have an immediate need:
Blue Jays: open slots, but seemingly committed to youngsters; no need for a 2009 rental
Orioles: rotation TBD, but lots of candidates; committed to youngsters; no need for a 2009 rental
Rays: full rotation
Red Sox: full rotation
Yankees: full rotation
Indians: full rotation
Royals: full rotation
Tigers: full rotation
Twins: full rotation and no interest
White Sox: want another arm, but don't have much money
Angels: full rotation
A's: full rotation
Rangers: full rotation
Braves: full rotation
Marlins: full rotation, broke
Mets: full rotation
Phillies: full rotation
Nationals: full rotation
Astros: full rotation
Brewers: full rotation
Cardinals: full rotation unless Chris Carpenter gets hurt while I write this sentence fragment
Cubs: full rotation
Pirates: full rotation
Reds: full rotation
Diamondbacks: full rotation
Dodgers: full rotation
Giants: full rotation
Padres: I can't tell if they're full or not but they don't have any money anyway
Rockies: full rotation
Barring some kind of miracle, Jarrod Washburn just isn't going to get dealt before the season. The only real legitimate possible suitor remaining is Chicago, and they have their own budget problems to work out. I suppose there's Washburn/Dye potential in there somewhere, but we'd have to sweeten the pot, and I don't know how willing Zduriencik would be to sacrifice youth under these conditions.
And so, most likely, we'll have to wait a few months until people get injured, spots open up, and teams get a better idea of whether or not they're contenders. At that point I can see us fielding more calls about a veteran lefty with playoff experience. That could be good news, since the shiny new outfield ought to treat Washburn's ERA like a down pillow treats a rock that you throw at it, but the downside is that it makes an acquisition like Bobby Abreu highly unlikely. Granted, I think Abreu could earn his money by helping the team contend, and that in the worst-case scenario you could mitigate the impact of his salary by dumping him midseason if you have to, but ownership seems to see things differently, and according to them, we don't have space to take on another big contract. So.
Felix/Bedard/Silva/Morrow/Washburn. For all the competition the team is going to have this spring, the rotation looks to be set in stone. Here's hoping RRS and Garrett Olson don't mind playing the waiting game.