Rankings of Top Rotations in Baseball

[CWSOX45]

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 12:46 AM)

I think the Cards' rotation is getting a little too much credit from us so far. Mulder is a stud, but the rest are iffy. Carpenter had a solid year, but is coming off of surgery and was a notorious underachiever before that. Marquis was also decent last year but didn't show much before that, and Suppan is pretty mediocre. I certainly wouldn't put them in the top 5, and possibly just barely in the top 10. I understand where you are coming from. However Carpenter had showed some promise when he was pitching in Toronto, and Marquis finally seems to figured out how to pitch at the big league level. I'm still not sold on Suppan, I've never been a big fan of him. Those three are still pretty good for 4 and 5 starters, but questionable for a third starter. Mulder is an ace obviously, and if Matt Morris puts up the numbers that he did a few years ago, and if the supporting cast pitches like they did last year then they belong in the top 5.   There are a lot of "If's" for the Cards, but many other teams are in the same situation.   CWSOX45

[MurcieOne]

<!--QuoteBegin-SoxFan101+Jan 2, 2005 -> 02:46 AM-->

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 02:46 AM)

<!--QuoteEBegin--> well a rotation of prior, wood, zambrano, and maddux is top 3 if not top 1 in my book... and if glendon rusch is as good as he was last year id say they be easy number 1 but if he sucks sirgio mitre isnt that bad of a 5th starter Mitre is awful.     Mitre=Diaz

[GoodAsGould]

dont the cubs have a good pitching prospect not to far from the bigs too

[SoxFan1]

In the MLB, it is as follows:

 

NYY

ATL

BOS

CWS

STL

[ISF]

Cards' rotation sucks. Mulder is damaged goods, Williams is gone, Morris is still having arm problems.

 

They don't even make my top half of the league.

 

Once Clemens announces he's coming back to Houston, they're up there in my book. Cubs and White Sox both have solid rotations. NY and Boston.

If I had to pick a top 5:

 

1. Cubs

2. Yankees

3. Red Sox

4. Houston

5. White Sox

 

Atlanta, Twins, Indians, Marlins all could be considered.

[GoodAsGould]

our rotation still has 2 really big ? marks in it.... no one really knows how good contreras is going to be either really good or really s***ty... and no one knows how long el duque can stay healthy....I like our rotation but i think some of you going a bit overboard.... if the Tribe sign Millwood they could give our rotation a run for their money too assuming Cliff Lee is more first half like than 2nd half.

[whitesox61382]

This is a good question. Here would be my rankings.

 

1) Yankees(Johnson, Pavano, Brown, Mussina, Wright) - With the exception of Mussina, all the starters posted an ERA below 4.10 last year. I also think that Johnson is the best pitcher in the majors.

 

2) Mets(Martinez, Glavine, Benson, Trachsel, Zambrano) - This might be the best 1-5 rotation in the majors. All 5 pitchers had a sub 4.40 ERA last year.

 

3) Boston(Schilling, Clement, Wells, Miller, Arroyo) - I really think Miller is a sleeper, and Arroyo is a very underrated pitcher.

 

4) Cubs(Zambrano, Prior, Wood, Maddux, Rusch) - I love Zambrano, Wood is good when healthy, but Rusch is a question mark.

 

5) St Loius(Mulder, Carpenter, Marquis, Suppan, Morris) - Mulder finally gives this rotation an ace to mix in with the rest of the quality middle of the rotation starters.

 

6) Florida(Leiter, Burnett, Beckett, Wills, ?) - I really like the Leiter signing. This rotation has the potential be be #1 if they stay healthy.

 

7) Sox(Buehrle, Garcia, Hernandez, Contreras, Garland) - The back end of the rotation will determine how good this staff is. It has the potential to be very good.

 

8) San Diego(Peavy, Lawrence, Williams, Eaton, May) - Peavy might be the best pitcher that you have never heard of. Lawrence, Williams, and Eaton are all solid middle of the rotation guys.

 

9) Atlanta(Hudson, Smoltz, Thompson, Hampton, Ramirez) - I rank them this low because I have question marks about Smoltz. The guy will be 38 next year and hasn't thrown more then 81 innings since 1999.

 

10) San Francisco(Schmidt, Lowry, Tomko, Williams, Rueter) - Schmidt has been one of the top pitchers over the past couple of years. Lowry and Williams are two very good young pitchers.

 

HM) Minnesota(Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse, ?) - Santana and Radke can match any top two starters, but the back end of their rotation has some serious question marks.

 

Sleepers

 

Cleveland - If they sign Millwood, than they will have a solid 1-3 with Westbrook, Sabathia, and Millwood. Plus they have a couple of young arms with potential.

 

Houston - If Clemens comes back, and Pettitte and Hernandez stay healthy(with Ozwalt), than this could be a very good rotation.

 

Oakland - Harden might be a huge sleeper waiting to break out. Their rotation has as many unproven, but talented young arms as any in MLB.

 

Philadelphia - Wolf and Padilla are underrated pitchers, Lieber was a solid starter, but Myers will determine who good this rotation is.

 

Pittsburgh - Perez might be one of the top 5 pitchers in the game. Wells, Redman, and Fogg give them a decent middle of the rotation.

[aboz56]

Our rotation isn't better than Atlanta, sorry fellas.

[Rowand44]

Our rotation isn't better than Atlanta, sorry fellas.

I'm not sure aboz. I've been thinking about this for a while now and it's really hard for me to put these top rotations in a specific order. The reason I say this is because even these elite rotations have a bunch of question marks. The top rotations in my mind are the Yanks, Boston, Sox, Cubs, Braves in no specific order. It's really a tough question and difficult to put these order, all those rotations while very solid have some major health issues.

[whitesox61382]

Our rotation isn't better than Atlanta, sorry fellas.

 

I think that a lot of people are overrating the Braves staff. I do like Hudson, but I worry that his workload is going to catch up to his sub 6 foot frame at some point. I think people are drastically overrating Smoltz, especially those that think he is heading back to his CY Young calibur days. Like I said before, the guy is going to be 38 next year and hasn't pitched more then 81 IP since 1999. I am not sure what to expect from Thomson. Last year was his 1st full season away from Coors, and he responded with his best season. I don't think he is quite as good as his ERA in 2004. Hampton has been all over the place, and his 1.53 WHIP is terrible and suggests that his ERA will be higher in 2005 if he posts a similar WHIP. Rameriz has a good arm, but he is coming off a pretty serious injury and it will be interesting to see how he reacts. Finally, you certainly have to take into consideration both league factor and park factor. The fact remains that the NL pitchers have a lower ERA on average versus their AL counterparts(pretty obvious). Furthermore, the difference between UCSF and Turner Field is drastic. I have seen some park factor stats that rate UCSF right with Coors, while Turner Field is probably one of the top 5 pitcher parks. Classic examples include Garcia last year with Seattle(3.20) versus him with the Sox(4.46), or Hampton in Colorado(5.41 and 6.15) versus him in Atlanta(3.84 and 4.28). I think the rotations are pretty similar, and that you can swap them if you want, but I don't think Atlanta has a top 5 rotation.

[MurcieOne]

I like the list WS61382......

 

but i gotta disagree with the Mets at #2.... I would definitely put the mets on the bottom 5 of that list behind the Yanks Cubs Redsox Cards and Marlins.

[ISF]

Atlanta has more ??? than us. s***, Hampton can't make our rotation, at least until El Duque gets injured. And that will happen about the same time Smoltz's elbow gives out.

 

Mets? Good Lord, what has Benson done to be named a solid #2? Victor Zambrano? Geezus, he's Russ Ortiz without control (and check Ortiz's walk rates for what I'm sayin' here).

 

I agree about the Indians and Padres. Padres will miss Wells though. He was a nice vet to have with those young guys.

[GoodAsGould]

victor zambrano is much better than russ ortiz he doesnt have best control but he is awesome... also glavine is still good and pedro is still amazing.... Benson is a very solid 4th and traschel a fine 5th....their rotation is old but dont really have any major hole in it...

[Rowand44]

victor zambrano is much better than russ ortiz he doesnt have best control but he is awesome... also glavine is still good and pedro is still amazing.... Benson is a very solid 4th and traschel a fine 5th....their rotation is old but dont really have any major hole in it...

Pedro isn't amazing anymore. He's still very good but not even close to what he was.

[whitesox61382]

I could see people putting the Red Sox and Cubs rotations ahead of the Mets, but I do think people are sleeping on the Mets rotation. I am not a huge Pedro fan, but he is still a solid pitcher and could benefit with a move to the NL and a better pitchers park. Glavine is still a quality top of the rotation guy. The backend of the Mets rotation isn't eye poping, but they are solid and consistant, which can't be said about most teams back of the rotation. With the exception of Zambrano, the other 4 starters each threw at least 200 innings last year. As I also mentioned, all 5 posted an ERA below 4.40. There isn't another rotation that can say that. I do think that the Mets have a top 5 rotation, however, they can be ranked anywhere from 1-5 IMO. I just thought that they had the #2 rotation based on the quality of the backend of their rotation(i flipped a coin between the Red Sox and Mets). I thought the Red Sox had a few more question marks(Shilling's health, Clement's adjustment, Wells's age, Miller health).

 

The Marlins rotation is hard to rank. Like I said, I took many things into consideration including league factor, park factor, health, age, ect. I worry too much about the health of that rotation, and they do benefit from pitching in a great pitchers park.

[GoodAsGould]

Pedro isn't amazing anymore.  He's still very good but not even close to what he was.

 

 

i dont get why people dont think pedro isnt amazing anymore last year was a down year for him and for many pitchers it would of been one of their best years... add in the fact he is going from a hitters park in the AL to a pitchers park in the NL i see an era in the high 2's to low 3's

[Rowand44]

i dont get why people dont think pedro isnt amazing anymore last year was a down year for him and for many pitchers it would of been one of their best years... add in the fact he is going from a hitters park in the AL to a pitchers park in the NL i see an era in the high 2's to low 3's

His era was somewhere near 3.9 last year(to lazy to look it up) and at times he was very inconsistant. Don't get me wrong he's still a great pitcher but he's not an elite pitcher anymore, especially with his arm hanging on by a thread.

[Chisoxmatt]

victor zambrano is much better than russ ortiz he doesnt have best control but he is awesome... also glavine is still good and pedro is still amazing.... Benson is a very solid 4th and traschel a fine 5th....their rotation is old but dont really have any major hole in it...

 

 

I fail to see what is so awesome about V.Zambrano.

Zambrano's career stats:

W/L: 37 27

ERA: 4.45

G/GS: 138 64

Hits: 442

ER: 245

BB: 294

K: 386

BB/9: 5.34

K/BB: 1.27

 

 

They are pretty good but look at the BB/9. Last year it was in the 6's. His K/BB is nothing special. His record and ERA are pretty good but he spent more than half his career in the bullpen. His best year he was 12-10 with a 4.21 ERA. Big Deal.

 

 

Ortiz stats:

W/L :103-60

ERA: 4.00

G/GS: 222 212

Hits: 1223

ER: 596

BB: 682

K:1004

BB/9: 4.5

K/BB: 1.41

 

The stats prove it. Zambrano is not awesome and he is not better than Ortiz.

[GoodAsGould]

I fail to see what is so awesome about V.Zambrano.

Zambrano's career stats:

W/L: 37 27

ERA: 4.45

G/GS: 138 64 

Hits: 442

ER: 245

BB: 294

K: 386

BB/9: 5.34   

K/BB: 1.27

They are pretty good but look at the BB/9.  Last year it was in the 6's.  His K/BB is nothing special.  His record and ERA are pretty good but he spent more than half his career in the bullpen.  His best year he was 12-10 with a 4.21 ERA.  Big Deal.

 

                   

Ortiz stats:

W/L :103-60

ERA: 4.00

G/GS: 222 212 

Hits: 1223 

ER: 596

BB: 682

K:1004

BB/9: 4.5 

K/BB: 1.41

 

The stats prove it.  Zambrano is not awesome and he is not better than Ortiz.

 

 

ortiz has spent his whole career in the NL in a nice braves stadium with possibly the best pitching coach in the league.... book it this year zambrano in the NL in a pitchers park will have a better era than ortiz

[CWSGuy406]

Matt, you're right. Zambrano isn't that great.

 

But those are his numbers, pitching in the (for the most part) AL East, and being the staff ace.

 

On the Mets, he's the number four. Those are damn good numbers for a number four...

[AnthraxFan93]

This is a good question. Here would be my rankings.

 

1) Yankees(Johnson, Pavano, Brown, Mussina, Wright) - With the exception of Mussina, all the starters posted an ERA below 4.10 last year. I also think that Johnson is the best pitcher in the majors.

 

2) Mets(Martinez, Glavine, Benson, Trachsel, Zambrano) - This might be the best 1-5 rotation in the majors. All 5 pitchers had a sub 4.40 ERA last year.

 

3) Boston(Schilling, Clement, Wells, Miller, Arroyo) - I really think Miller is a sleeper, and Arroyo is a very underrated pitcher.

 

4) Cubs(Zambrano, Prior, Wood, Maddux, Rusch) - I love Zambrano, Wood is good when healthy, but Rusch is a question mark.

 

5) St Loius(Mulder, Carpenter, Marquis, Suppan, Morris) - Mulder finally gives this rotation an ace to mix in with the rest of the quality middle of the rotation starters.

 

6) Florida(Leiter, Burnett, Beckett, Wills, ?) - I really like the Leiter signing. This rotation has the potential be be #1 if they stay healthy.

 

7) Sox(Buehrle, Garcia, Hernandez, Contreras, Garland) - The back end of the rotation will determine how good this staff is. It has the potential to be very good.

 

8) San Diego(Peavy, Lawrence, Williams, Eaton, May) - Peavy might be the best pitcher that you have never heard of. Lawrence, Williams, and Eaton are all solid middle of the rotation guys.

 

9) Atlanta(Hudson, Smoltz, Thompson, Hampton, Ramirez) - I rank them this low because I have question marks about Smoltz. The guy will be 38 next year and hasn't thrown more then 81 innings since 1999.

 

10) San Francisco(Schmidt, Lowry, Tomko, Williams, Rueter) - Schmidt has been one of the top pitchers over the past couple of years. Lowry and Williams are two very good young pitchers.

 

HM) Minnesota(Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse, ?) - Santana and Radke can match any top two starters, but the back end of their rotation has some serious question marks.

 

Sleepers

 

Cleveland - If they sign Millwood, than they will have a solid 1-3 with Westbrook, Sabathia, and Millwood. Plus they have a couple of young arms with potential.

 

Houston - If Clemens comes back, and Pettitte and Hernandez stay healthy(with Ozwalt), than this could be a very good rotation.

 

Oakland - Harden might be a huge sleeper waiting to break out. Their rotation has as many unproven, but talented young arms as any in MLB.

 

Philadelphia - Wolf and Padilla are underrated pitchers, Lieber was a solid starter, but Myers will determine who good this rotation is.

 

Pittsburgh - Perez might be one of the top 5 pitchers in the game. Wells, Redman, and Fogg give them a decent middle of the rotation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Thanks for doing my owrk for me.. can't agree with you anymore..Allot of people left off the Padres, and they are IMO could be the one of best in the NL if the all stay healthy.

[ChWRoCk2]

Here are my rankings for the top rotations in baseball - what do you guys think?

1. CHICAGO CUBS

2. NEW YORK YANKEES

3. CHICAGO WHITE SOX

4. BOSTON RED SOX

5. ATLANTA BRAVES

6. MINNESOTA TWINS

7. NEW YORK METS

8. FLORIDA MARLINS

9. ANAHEIM ANGELS

10. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

 

cubs fans :banghead

 

1. NYY

2. BOS

3. CHC

4. ATL

5. STL

6. CHW

7. NYM

8. MIN

9. CLE

10. LA

[ChWRoCk2]

Thanks for doing my owrk for me.. can't agree with you anymore..Allot of people left off the Padres, and they are IMO could be the one of  best in the NL if the all stay healthy.

 

Padres staff isnt that great, after peavy the rest of them just get beaten up by runs, and they lost wells and who do they get williams, not a big fan of that move

[qwerty]

If Wood was on any other team in baseball he would of been but in the bullpen by now. The cubs can't though because they have two much hype surrounding him. It's all well and good to dominate but when your pitching over a hundred pitches usually by the 5th inning then your not going to win too many games.

Yes I admit that Maddux is a rock. We'll see how Prior does when he comes back for injury.

I would take our rotation over theirs.

 

So you are saying that if he was on a team not as good as the cubs he would be in the pen? That makes no sense at all. You have an odd sense of humor.

[YASNY]

Kerry Wood would be in the rotation on any team in the majors. He hasn't lived up to expectations, but he's still a solid starting pitcher.