There was a time when, of the top 20 pitchers in ERA or innings pitched, the Eastern Division of BARB would've sported more than half. But the times, as Bob Dylan once said, are 'a-changing.' As of this moment, of the 33 pitchers who worked 200 or more innings last year in major league baseball, only nine of them are in the East, and of those, seven of the nine are on just two clubs (Darwin and Brooklyn). Two organizations with great pitching depth two years ago have seemingly fallen on leaner times, and in general top pitchers have been leaving the East for some time now.
Let's just look at how this has gone down, shall we?
The BROOKLYN Moabs have more durable starters than any club in the division, with Fausto Carmona, Roy Oswalt, Bronson Arroyo and Adam Wainwright all topping the 200-inning plateau. But this is also a club that has in the last six months has traded away Mark Buehrle (10-9, 3.63 in 201.2 IP) and simply let LHP Andy Pettite (15-9) and RHP Carlos Sliva (13-14) walk in their free agent year.
The DARWIN Finches have three guys who all topped 200 frames last year (John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Scott Kazmir)....but do you see a trend? All of these guys came up lame in the early going and seem unlikely to make 30 starts this season. The Unnatural Selections' veteran rotation contains other players coming back from injury, among them Chuck James and Randy Johnson, so the possibility of a rotation collapse can't be discounted.
The FROSTBITE FALLS Flying Squirrels at one point arguably boasted the best righty-lefty 1-2 rotation punch in BARB with Chris Carpenter and Johan Santana. Both are now history, traded to Pottsylvania and Lexington, respectively. They lost patience with Dice-K and now Matsuzaka (15-12, 4.40 ERA in 204 IP) is with Oakeyland. They cut Bronson Arroyo (210 IP) rather than resign the disappointing righty. This leaves 3-time world champion GM Andrew Haynes with just one ace with more than 200 innings in 2007, RHP Brad Penny. Little wonder that LHP Paul Maholm (10-15, 5.02) is contending for a rotation spot.
Finally, what can one say about the WORCESTER Eliminators. They moved Joe Blanton (14-10, 230 IP). They traded away young starters Ervin Santana and Scott Olsen. They left Gil Meche (3.67 ERA in 216 IP) unprotected (and lost him), and rather than restock their rotation in the draft, they signed a bunch of low-risk, short-term relievers in their early 30's. This is a club that could've picked up an Adam Wainwright, a John Maine, a Micah Owings, a Tom Gorzelanny in the draft, or an Andy Pettite or Tim Wakefield in free agency.
Meanwhile, look at Yuma's rotation: Matt Cain (200 IP); Carlos Zambrano (216.1), Jake Peavy (223.1), Roy Halladay (225.1) and.....(drumroll please)......C.C. Sabathia (MLB-best 241 IP).
When one adds in LEXINGTON:
Brandon Webb (236.1), Johann Santana (219), Josh Beckett (200.2), Cole Hamels (182)
and CASSELTON:
Aaron Harang (231.2), John Lackey (224), Jon Garland (208.1), Daniel Cabrera (202)
You can now see where the starting pitching depth is in this league.
7 comments:
Paul Maholm contending for a rotation spot. Riiiight. For the record, I'd rather have my young trio of Hernandez, Lincecum and Hill (Rich) than guys like Arroyo, Wainwright and Glavine (among others). I do feel my rotation has as much talent as any other in B.A.R.B., but go ahead and keep underestimating them Mr. Hatfield.
this was a dumb comment. Adam wainwright went with 14-12 3.70 era, john maine went 15-10 with a 3.01 era, gorzelanny went 14-10 with a 3.88 era, the great micah owings went 8-8 with 4.30 era, and im not even going to waste my time giving you pettittes and wakefields stats. lets not forget i kept haren 15-9 3.07 era, 13-5 3.16 era, young 9-8 3.12 era, drafted guthrie 7-5 3.70 era, 7-9 3.81 era, traded for lester 4-0 4.57 era, kept loewen 2-0 3.56 era, ian kennedy 1-0 1.89 era, and still have bounce back guys in anibal sanchez and jeremy sowers. and i think ervin santana 7-14 5.76 era and scott olsen 10-15 5.81 era are better off not being on my team because id probably just end up cutting them, they are not worth the last two pitching spots, but apparently i lack pitching. oh and the low 30s middles relievers... id take them anyday to get a shut down bullpen. i drafted for team needs as opposed to flashy young guys that MIGHT develop, but would give my team a higher ranking in the pointless how has more baseball america players toll.
sorry i meant a 3.91 era on maine.
Unlike everyone else in my division, I am glad that my durable deep rotation is finally getting some support. When I have Owings, Parra, and Jimenez not in the rotation, then its considered deep. Wang has been lights out this season and still won 19 games with a respectable era a season ago. Carmona, despite the disaster yesterday, had a great start in cold Cleveland and had an amazing season a year ago. Wainwright is a big groundball pitcher, do you see the trend? He is 6'7" and throws downhill. He can eat innings and is probably going to be my 4th starter, more than adequate with my lineup. I also have Oswalt, who will turn this season around when it gets warmer. He is aging which is a cause for concern, but he is a big game pitcher. Lastly I have Baker who has great control. As a young 5th starter, I simply do not want someone who will walk people. Baker also gets groundouts! All 5 are groundball pitchers and with Tulowitzki and Utley, that's what I want. I was tired of Beuhrle and others who were fly ball pitchers. I looked at more than just ERA and K's.
Oh and shouldn't RONALD be doing this sort of analysis? He must be busy offering some owner player X and then when there is an agreement, taking player X to another team and offering him!
my rotation is pretty deep as well, although they lack experience. Gorzelanny, Cueto, Volquez, Hughes, and Buchholz. all are starting for there respected teams. Cueto and volquez are off to hot starts, buchholz has been decent, and hughes and gorzelanny, could be better, to say the least.
You guys can quibble, but facts are facts. Eric has a lot more arms with a proven track record of recent durability. The rest of us don't, and two years ago every team in the division had such players. In the last few years, this division has increasingly keyed on bullpen depth rather than inning-eating starters. It's an obvious trend. Doesn't mean you won't be strong clubs, but it could make a difference. In fact, I will go on record as saying that it is obvious that all Eastern clubs will score lots of runs, and obvious that all Eastern clubs have pretty deep pens this year. So what will separate the clubs? It could be this starting pitching depth. That's all I'm implying.
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