How will the schedule affect the 5th starter?

I have a feeling all this talk about who'll win the fifth starter spot will be for naught, as these 'problems' tend to solve themselves, whether by injury or ineffectiveness. What are the odds that a 38-year-old Andy Pettitte and 33-year-old A.J. Burnett stay healthy all year? (Yes, they did last year but that seems more like the exception.)

Anyway, assuming everyone is healthy, how will Girardi use the early off-days?

The Yanks open the season on April 4th, then have an off-day, then play two, then have another off-day (really, schedule-makers?), then play three, then have a third off-day (after just six games). They don't play four straight until their first homestand (beginning April 13th).

Assuming Girardi doesn't skip pitchers with all the off-days, here's how the early schedule looks:

Sabathia pitches four times (with extra rest between all his starts), and the fifth starter thrice. In fact, every starter will pitch on extra rest at least twice in the first three weeks.

Now here's the schedule using the off-days to skip starters:

So Sabathia still goes four times, but all on normal rest, while the fifth starter goes only twice. Is keeping the first four starters on normal rest more valuable than giving Joba or Hughes regular work? After all the talk we heard last year about how Joba needed to 'have the reins taken off' and 'get into a routine,' is it right to start him just twice in the first three weeks (if he wins the spot)?