I started the last entry
with my preseason playoff picks, but now it is time for something a little more
hardcore.
Below are
my picks, not predictions, for each big league team’s 2009 starting
rotation.
Toronto
- Roy Halladay
- Jesse Litsch
- David Purcey
Casey Janssen
- Bryan Bullington
Baltimore
- Jeremy Guthrie
- Koji Uehara
- Rich Hill
- Radhames Liz
- David Pauley
Tampa Bay
- Scott Kazmir
- James Shields
- Matt Garza
- Andy Sonnanstine
- Jeff Neimann
Boston
- Josh Beckett
- Jon Lester
- Daisuke Matsuzaka
- Tim Wakefield
- Clay Buchholz
New York
- CC Sabathia
- Chien-Ming Wang
- A.J. Burnett
- Andy Pettitte
- Joba Chamberlain
Cleveland
- Cliff Lee
- Fausto Carmona
- Anthony Reyes
- Aaron Laffey
- Jeremy Sowers
Kansas City
- Zack Greinke
- Gil Meche
- Kyle Davies
- Luke Hochevar
- Brian Bannister
Detroit
- Jeremy Bonderman
- Justin Verlander
- Armando Galarraga
- Edwin Jackson
- Chris Lambert
Minnesota
- Scott Baker
- Kevin Slowey
- Francisco Liriano
- Kevin Blackburn
- Glen Perkins
Chicago
- Mark Buehrle
- John Danks
- Gavin Floyd
- Jose Contreras
- Clayton Richard
Los Angeles
- John Lackey
- Ervin Santana
- Joe Saunders
- Jered Weaver
- Anthony Ortega
Oakland
- Justin Duchscherer
- Dana Eveland
- Dallas Braden
- Sean Gallagher
- Gio Gonzalez
Seattle
- Felix Hernandez
- Eric Bedard
- Jarrod Washburn
- Garrett Olson
- Ryan Rowland-Smith
Texas
- Kevin Millwood
- Vicente Padilla
- Brandon McCarthy
- Matt Harrison
- Doug Mathis
Atlanta
- Derek Lowe
- Jair Jurrjens
- Javier Vasquez
- Kenshin Kawakami
- Jo-Jo Reyes
Florida
- Josh Johnson
- Ricky Nolasco
- Chris Volstad
- Anibal Sanchez
- Andrew Miller
New York
- Johan Santana
- John Maine
- Mike Pelfrey
- Oliver Perez
- Tim Redding
Philadelphia
- Cole Hamels
- Brett Myers
- Jamie Moyer
- Joe Blanton
- J.A. Happ
Washington
- John Lannan
- Scott Olsen
- Shawn Hill
- Collin Balester
- Shairon Martis
Houston
- Roy Oswalt
- Wandy Rodriguez
- Mike Hampton
- Brian Moehler
- Brandon Backe
Milwaukee
- Yovani Gallardo
- Dave Bush
- Braden Looper
- Manny Parra
- Jeff Suppan
St. Louis
- Adam Wainwright
- Kyle Lohse
- Chris Carpenter
- Todd Wellemeyer
- Mitchell Boggs
Chicago
- Carlos Zambrano
- Ryan Dempster
- Rich Harden
- Ted Lilly
- Sean Marshall
Pittsburgh
- Paul Maholm
- Ian Snell
- Tom Gorzelanny
- Zach Duke
- Jeff Karstens
Cincinnati
- Edinson Volquez
- Aaron Harang
- Johnny Cueto
- Bronson Arroyo
- Homer Bailey
Arizona
- Brandon Webb
- Danny Haren
- Doug Davis
- Max Scherzer
- Jon Garland
Los Angeles
- Chad Billingsley
- Hiroki Kuroda
- Clayton Kershaw
- Randy Wolf
- James McDonald
San Francisco
- Tim Lincecum
- Matt Cain
- Barry Zito
- Randy Johnson
- Jonathan Sanchez
San Diego
- Jake Peavy
- Chris Young
- Josh Geer
- Cha Seung Baek
- Chad Reineke
Colorado
- Aaron Cook
- Ubaldo Jimenez
- Jason Marquis
- Greg Smith
- Jason Hirsh
After making these lists
and seeing this
thread, I’ve been inspired to decide which rotation I think is the best. As I’ve said earlier, I think Cleveland has
the best starting pitching depth, but as far as the most effective starting
five goes, I’ll have to take the Yankees.
No one in the MLB can match Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Pettitte, and
Chamberlain. Plus New York has a bunch
of depth with Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alfredo Aceves, Humberto Sanchez, Kei
Igawa all in Triple-A presumably. The
best National League rotation is, in my opinion, the Chicago Cubs. Of course, that all depends on how healthy
Rich Harden can stay.
And as for the worst…I’d
pick the Astros. Sure, the Jays or
Pirates may have worse team pitching statistics in 2009, but Houston has
absolutely no depth and a weak collection of pitching prospects (and position
prospects for that matter).
As always, let me know
what you think. In my next entry I’ll
continue my pre-season predictions/picks with giving my personal predictions
for all the major awards.
