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  • February 17, 2008 07:53 PM ET

The NL West has the best starting pitching out of any division in all of baseball.

E4P Is Not So Mad For Max (72-17-3) vs Lifer: Metallica Sucks! (348-131-26)
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Just look at the stats from the top ten pitchers that play for teams in the NL West:

B. Webb: 3.01 ERA 18-10
D. Haren: 3.07 ERA 15-9
J. Francis: 4.22 ERA 17-9
J. Peavy: 2.54 ERA 19-6
C. Young: 3.18 ERA 9-8
B. Penny: 3.03 ERA 16-4

Just show me another division with this many "aces" in it.


NL East seems like the best bet to argue against the NL West.

J. Santana: 3.33 ERA 15-13
J. Smoltz: 3.11 ERA 14-8
T. Hudson: 3.33 ERA 16-10
C. Hamels: 3.39 ERA 15-5
J. Maine: 3.91 ERA 15-10
O. Perez: 3.56 ERA 15-10
P. Martinez: 2.57 ERA 3-1
O. Hernandez: 3.72 ERA 9-5
K. Kendrick: 3.87 ERA 10-4
S. Hill: 3.42 ERA 4-5

Not all of them are "great", but there's plenty of them, and not one of them has an ERA above 4. You have HOF-caliber guys like Pedro, Santana and Smoltz, you have the great pitchers guys like Hamels and Hudson, and you have the good and potential-to-be-great in Kendrick, Hill, Perez, Maine, and El Duke.


I just threw in the great ones. Let me also put in all the above average ones.

B. Webb: 3.01 ERA 18-10
D. Haren: 3.07 ERA 15-9
J. Francis: 4.22 ERA 17-9
J. Peavy: 2.54 ERA 19-6
C. Young: 3.18 ERA 9-8
B. Penny: 3.03 ERA 16-4
------------------------------------
R. Johnson 3.81 ERA 4-3
C. Billingsley 3.31 ERA 12-5
M. Cain 3.65 ERA 7-16
G. Maddux 4.14 ERA 14-11

And exactly like supakushed1 said, you also have to consider Schmidt and Prior too.

The NL west has the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finalists for the NL cy young last year. Thats absurd!


Kinky. Well not really. But whatever.

I'll add a few myself.

Mike Hampton (thanks BS)
Chuck James: 4.24 ERA 11-10
Tim Redding: 3.64 ERA 3-6

I'll refrain from Tom Glavine.

I'll address your list first...

-Jake Peavy is a bit of a wild card. He'll either give you a sub-3 ERA year, or an over-4 ERA performance. In his 6 seasons, he has 3 of each.
-Chris Young's numbers have been steadily improving, but he has only 4 seasons and is already 28 years old. Not a huge knock on him.
-Calling Jeff Francis great is a bit of a stretch. His stats in the regular season were good but not great, and he didn't help himself out a whole lot in the postseason (4.86 ERA).
-In 8 seasons, this is the 2nd time Brad Penny has had an ERA below 3.50. He was great this year, but his career 3.90 ERA says differently.


I gotta say that B. Webb and Jake Peavy are top 5 pitchers. Only J. Santana is in that category. Face it, Smoltz and Martinez aren't the elite pitchers they used to be. Just because there going to hall, doesn't mean they're STILL the best of the best.

-Orlando Hernandez is 41 and only had 4 years with an ERA less than 4.00. He's had more years with an ERA over 4.50 than years less than 4.00.
-Cole Hamels is great, but he isn't top ten. In a few years most definately but right now he cant say that.
- Some players on your list have had only one good season. (This includes Maine, Perez, Kendrick, Hill. All of a sudden these amatuers make this division the best.

Just because this division may own the best pitcher in Santana, doesn't make them the best at all.


Lest we forget, the NL West has AWFUL hitting. Let's compare the batting averages of the NL West to that of the NL East, shall we?

NL West ---
D'Backs: .250
Padres: .251
Giants: .254
Rockies: .280
Dodgers: .275

NL East ---
Mets: .275
Braves: .275
Phillies: .274
Nationals: .256
Marlins: .267

So, the worst hitting team in the East is still better than three hitting teams in the West. That's a strange coincidence, huh? "Best" pitchers, worst hitters.

Comments (24) Add A Comment

February 17, 2008  08:14 PM ET
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You two going at it again?

February 17, 2008  08:14 PM ET
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if mark prior gets healthy, and jason schmidt get healthy its gonna be a nasty NL

February 17, 2008  08:16 PM ET
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The NL East can give you a run, but I don't know that it is better.

February 17, 2008  08:26 PM ET
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D. Haren is changing leagues, just hope he doesn't end up like Zito his first year in the NL. The rest look hard to beat.

February 17, 2008  08:39 PM ET
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but you can say the same to J. Santana.

February 17, 2008  08:42 PM ET
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okay. somehow he has two votes and i only have one. yet everyone who has left a comment seems to be on my side.

February 17, 2008  08:42 PM ET
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Lifer you forgot Mike Hampton, he had Cy Young Stuff before he got hurt. He has been throwing this week, and they think he could be 100% by April.

February 17, 2008  08:43 PM ET
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I'm up in the air right now. I think top to bottom it's the West, but I'm not sold either way just yet.

February 17, 2008  08:45 PM ET
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jake peavy = best pitcher in all of basball. GO PADRES!

February 17, 2008  08:46 PM ET
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You honestly believe Prior will get healthy after spending years on our DL? Don't make me laugh.

February 17, 2008  08:49 PM ET
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when did i say i believe that. i just said you must consider him into the situation. chilax!

February 17, 2008  09:50 PM ET
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I be if you put these pitchers in the AL East or Central, their stats wouldn't look this good.

February 17, 2008  10:22 PM ET
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i ave to say the AL East is up there..

February 17, 2008  11:07 PM ET
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E4P- biiittchheeennn... : )

February 17, 2008  11:26 PM ET
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d*mn straight lol

February 17, 2008  11:29 PM ET
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i said "if", i didnt say that i belived or that it was even a good chance. i made u laugh? does rex grossman make u laugh? what about bartman? they make me laugh

February 17, 2008  11:52 PM ET
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lol

February 18, 2008  12:39 AM ET
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I never thought Bartman was the cause of our collapse. Nor do I think that Grossman is the answer. Nice try, though.

February 18, 2008  01:30 AM ET
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save the nice try talk for jon liber

 
February 18, 2008  11:52 AM ET
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It's Lieber. L-i-e-b-e-r.

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