[情報] The 10 best rotations

[Westmoreland (Westy)]

http://t.co/Jf0lWawf  by Buster Olney



1. Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies lived up to the hype in 2011, leading the majors in starters'
ERA by a little less than half a run. Roy Halladay is going to the Hall of
Fame regardless of whether he throws another pitch, Cliff Lee was
intermittently the most dominant pitcher in the majors during parts of the
2011 season, and Cole Hamels is exceptional and will be on a mission next
season, as he prepares for free agency. When Roy Oswalt had back trouble,
Vance Worley stepped in and held opponents to a .666 OPS (as a starting
pitcher).

※ Joe Blanton


2. Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays could have traded James Shields -- and it's still possible that
they will -- but he is such a hugely important part of the staff's
emotional core that Tampa Bay clung to him, knowing what this group could
accomplish together. The Rays ranked first in the AL in rotation ERA in
2011, which is pretty incredible given the relative strength of the AL
East's offenses. (Three AL East teams ranked in MLB's top six in runs
scored.) Shields had a tremendous bounce-back season, finishing third in
the AL in ERA. David Price is among the most dominant lefties in the
majors -- CC Sabathia was the only southpaw with more strikeouts -- and
Jeremy Hellickson was merely the AL Rookie of the Year. Now Matt Moore
slides into this group, after frightening AL hitters in '11; it's a small
sample, but Moore whiffed 15 in 9.1 innings with his easy power stuff.

The Rays are expected to trade either Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann sometime
before the start of the 2012 season, but no matter who stays or who goes,
it figures that Tampa Bay will have one of the most durable rotations in
the AL next season. One hundred forty-eight of Tampa Bay's 162 starts in
2011 were made by the five guys projected to be in their rotation at the
start of the season, a performance which is in keeping with the Rays'
recent history. Whether it's because of age or the Rays' maintenance
program or their scouting, Tampa Bay's starters take the ball.


3. Los Angeles Angels

There were times in 2011 when C.J. Wilson hoisted the Rangers' staff onto
his back, especially during the blistering days of August and early
September, but he will not have to do that with the Angels, who have
extraordinary depth and experience. Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin
Santana will probably slot in around Wilson at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 -- three
starters who are capable of dominance on a given day. Santana seemed to
grow as a pitcher in the second half of the season, as he refined the use
of his breaking ball, and his 2.78 ERA after the All-Star break ranked
fifth in the AL. It'll be interesting to see how No. 5 Jerome Williams
fares after his nice showing late in the 2011 season; he's just 30 years
old.


4. San Francisco Giants

The Giants finished second to the Phillies in rotation ERA, with Tim
Lincecum and Matt Cain and All-Star Ryan Vogelsong leading the way;
Madison Bumgarner appears ready to climb into the next level of starters,
based on his month-by-month ERA:

April: 6.17
May: 2.21
June: 4.28
July: 3.69
August: 2.30
September: 2.01

With Jonathan Sanchez gone, Eric Surkamp figures to battle Barry Zito for
the No. 5 spot in the rotation; Zito is down to the final two years of his
seven-year, $126 million contract.


5. Arizona Diamondbacks

It's a deep group that thrived in 2011 despite working in a park generally
viewed as a hitters' haven. Ian Kennedy finished fourth in the NL Cy Young
voting this year, as he learned to use his fastball. And Daniel Hudson
demonstrated great command, walking only 50 in 222 innings -- and now the
Diamondbacks have added ground-ball machine Trevor Cahill in a trade with
the Oakland Athletics. Scouts say that Cahill seemed to lose some sink on
his fastball in 2011, along with his mechanical consistency, and there is
optimism in the Arizona organization that Cahill will work well with
pitching coach Charles Nagy. Josh Collmenter is lined up as Arizona's No.
4, with the No. 5 starter still to be determined, but part of what should
make this rotation great is the strength around it -- the Diamondbacks
have an excellent pipeline of talent on the way, and a deep bullpen, as
well.

※ Wade Miley


6. Texas Rangers

C.J. Wilson's contributions to the Texas rotation were very underrated,
but so too are the pitchers who will now make the starts. Derek Holland,
long seen as a talented and erratic lefty, appeared to grow before our
eyes in October, his confidence exploding as he threw well against the
Cardinals. Colby Lewis is the plow horse of the group, slow and steady,
while Neftali Feliz faces an adjustment period as he goes back to starting
and again utilizes all of his pitches. Matt Harrison had a 3.39 ERA and
made 30 starts, and Alexi Ogando had dominant stuff. To this mix, the
Rangers are adding Yu Darvish, who is projected to be anywhere from a No.
2 starter to, at worst, a No. 4 type of innings eater, because of the
natural sink on his fastball. By the way: It's not a done deal that the
Rangers will trade one of their six starters, because they know as well as
anyone that teams almost never get through a season with just five guys.


7. Detroit Tigers

Justin Verlander is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and Most
Valuable Player, yet he didn't even post the best ERA on his own team in
the second half of the season. That belonged to Doug Fister, who thrived
with Detroit after a midseason trade from Seattle; he had a 2.47 ERA after
the All-Star break. Max Scherzer was better than his ERA indicated -- his
bad starts were awful, and he had a lot of great starts -- and like Derek
Holland, Rick Porcello appeared to learn some stuff about himself in the
postseason; remember, Porcello doesn't turn 23 until Tuesday.

※ Jacob Turner


8. Washington Nationals

In Jordan Zimmermann's first full season after Tommy John surgery, he
threw 161.1 innings, and that's the kind of workload the Nationals
envision for Stephen Strasburg in 2012, as Strasburg continues to progress
from his elbow reconstruction. Given that dynamic, you aren't going to see
a bunch of eight-inning outings from Zimmermann and Strasburg -- but they
figure to be overpowering whenever they pitch. Zimmermann allowed just 31
walks, for a 4.00 K/BB ratio, and in Strasburg's 92 innings in the majors,
he has 116 strikeouts and 19 walks, for a 6.11 K/BB ratio. And now the
Nationals have Gio Gonzalez, who has emerged as one of the best young
lefties in the game. It's possible that a year from now, we will view the
front three of the Washington rotation as the best in the majors.

※ John Lannan, Chien-Ming Wang, Tom Gorzelanny


9. Seattle Mariners

Scouts thought Felix Hernandez was a little bored in 2011, as if the
frustration he managed to fend off during his Cy Young season of 2010
finally got to him in the Mariners' run-less 2011 season. For example, the
opposing stolen bases against him doubled in '11, after Hernandez had
worked to cut down on those numbers in the past. But King Felix is still
regarded as one of the best in the game, at age 25, and he leads a
rotation that has Michael Pineda.

※ Jason Vargas, Blake Beavan, Charles Furbush


10a. Atlanta Braves

There are a whole lot of questions about the Atlanta rotation, and those
start with Tommy Hanson, who was hampered by shoulder problems down the
stretch. Were those just minor problems that will disappear or, as rival
scouts fear, the first manifestation of Hanson's unusual delivery? Second
question: What is Jair Jurrjens? Is he a solid front-of-the-rotation
starter, or is he destined to battle injury problems -- and if he is
really good, rival executives ask, why are the Braves willing to move him,
in the same winter they've already unloaded Derek Lowe? But no matter how
their rotation shakes out, they should be good, with Tim Hudson at the
front and Brandon Beachy in the middle and a whole lot of talent ascending
from the minors.

※ Mike Minor, Randall Delgado, Julio Teheran


10b. Los Angeles Dodgers

Oh, sure, some of it's the park, and some of it's the division, and a
whole lot of it is Clayton Kershaw, but the Dodgers ranked third in the
majors in rotation ERA in 2011. Kershaw is probably the most coveted
pitcher in the majors right now, given that he doesn't turn 24 until March
and he already has had a season in which he posted baseball's lowest ERA.
In the second half of the season, he went 12-1 with a 1.31 ERA, and that's
a pretty good guy to have as an anchor to a rotation. Chad Billingsley and
Ted Lilly are the No. 2 and No. 3 starters for the Dodgers; Hiroki Kuroda
will be missed.

※ Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano

The Cardinals could jump into this group, depending on how quickly Adam
Wainwright rebounds, and the Brewers -- who had solid work out of their
rotation in 2011 -- could, as well, depending on what Zack Greinke gives
them.




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◆ From: 114.44.220.211
推 ug945:國民前三號最強 評價真高阿 先拼過同區費城再說
推 shigowen:水手靠大帝就可以擠上前十  真厲害!!
推 samuel01:以為勇士會更高的
推 changyt:原來是投手群陣容
推 synchron:國民前三號最強?? 這份名單看看就好吧....
→ synchron:國民前三號的年資加起來才幾年, 也沒哪個投出過賽揚成績
→ synchron:是要拿什麼跟費城拼, 如果要說天賦的話我覺得光芒
→ synchron:光Shields, Price, Moore也不是國民能超越的
推 j07242054:doc 現在退休就進的了名人堂嗎？
推 chenghow:看到水手我就默默的無奈起來
推 vg175:原文國民前三號是聯盟最強的前三號也只是說有這個可能性而已
推 azlbf:織織 CJ 蛋哈倫 ES 只能排第3喔= =
→ azlbf:LAA SF PHI前三怎麼排都是看個人爽度 可是TB有這麼好嗎?
推 lovecszoo:不然TB怎麼打進季後賽的?
→ lovecszoo:打擊不強牛棚有只有兩隻比較可靠當然靠先發阿
→ lovecszoo:前兩號賽揚等級+新人王+未來的新人王+兩隻B+咖
推 vg175:TB在2011年的先發輪值ERA排名全聯盟第一,很恐怖滴
→ vg175:講錯了不是全聯盟是美聯
推 leoturkey:國民現階段那輪值連勇士都拼不過吧
推 harakiri405:巨人...orz
推 ultratimes:比前三號的話 費城絕對第一，把四號加進去，天使和巨人
→ ultratimes:才能和費城一起比...
推 Bagwell5:真是小看國民和費城人了
→ Bagwell5:推錯篇 sorry
推 yeng1217:巨人打擊...
推 cmhuang:還是覺得光芒的先發群不錯
推 simple721:坦帕先發年輕有為  實力也好  排第二也不過份
推 CanoNYY:看來Zito明年連第五號都有問題......
推 zwchih:竟然有老虎 = =
推 jagr:老虎的前三號很好啊，如果Tex少了Wilson那種年輕不穩定的
→ jagr:Rotation都能進老虎為什麼不能進
推 krjr24:感覺老虎有前5ㄟ
→ krjr24:紅雀沒wainy也可以進前10吧!
推 s910:國民本來就很強酸民崩潰