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This offseason, the Cleveland Indians front office decided to keep their full house (three aces and a pair of eights) instead of drawing the unknown in a trade to improve the lineup. To the consternation of many, let's now pool the projection data of the starting pitchers and bullpens to see if that full house still beats the other division rivals.
We will average the IP, K/9, FIP and WAR from Steamers and ZIPS into the table.
Cleveland Indians
|
Player |
IP |
K/9 |
FIP |
WAR |
SP1 |
Corey Kluber |
206.7 |
9.48 |
3.00 |
5.2 |
SP2 |
Carlos Carrasco |
180.0 |
9.80 |
2.90 |
4.8 |
SP3 |
Danny Salazar |
175.7 |
9.61 |
3.49 |
3.4 |
SP4 |
Trevor Bauer |
161.7 |
8.60 |
4.31 |
1.5 |
SP5 |
Josh Tomlin |
104.7 |
7.37 |
4.13 |
1.2 |
SP6 |
Cody Anderson |
108.3 |
5.60 |
4.54 |
0.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CL |
Cody Allen |
68.0 |
11.64 |
2.85 |
1.1 |
SU1 |
Bryan Shaw |
67.0 |
7.74 |
3.84 |
0.4 |
SU2 |
Zach McAllister |
82.0 |
8.69 |
3.50 |
1.1 |
SU3 |
Jeff Manship |
55.7 |
7.86 |
3.92 |
0.2 |
|
Rest of Pen |
|
|
|
0.8 |
Chicago White Sox
|
Player |
IP |
K/9 |
FIP |
WAR |
SP1 |
Chris Sale |
202.7 |
11.02 |
2.85 |
5.8 |
SP2 |
Jose Quintana |
197.7 |
7.64 |
3.56 |
3.9 |
SP3 |
Carlos Rodon |
159.7 |
9.31 |
3.98 |
2.4 |
SP4 |
Mat Latos |
140.3 |
7.22 |
4.30 |
1.6 |
SP5 |
John Danks |
152.3 |
6.22 |
4.71 |
1.1 |
SP6 |
Erik Johnson |
98.7 |
7.48 |
4.70 |
0.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CL |
David Robertson |
62.7 |
11.68 |
2.74 |
1.2 |
SU1 |
Nate Jones |
54.7 |
10.51 |
3.13 |
0.8 |
SU2 |
Zach Duke |
60.0 |
9.59 |
3.81 |
0.4 |
SU3 |
Zach Putnam |
55.0 |
9.17 |
3.63 |
0.5 |
|
Rest of Pen |
|
|
|
0.7 |
Detroit Tigers
|
Player |
IP |
K/9 |
FIP |
WAR |
SP1 |
Justin Verlander |
179.7 |
7.57 |
3.86 |
2.6 |
SP2 |
Jordan Zimmermann |
190.7 |
6.72 |
4.03 |
2.4 |
SP3 |
Anibal Sanchez |
155.3 |
8.00 |
2.80 |
2.4 |
SP4 |
Mike Pelfrey |
115.0 |
4.94 |
4.55 |
0.8 |
SP5 |
Daniel Norris |
139.0 |
7.65 |
4.38 |
1.3 |
SP6 |
Matt Boyd |
98.7 |
7.12 |
4.52 |
0.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CL |
Francisco Rodriguez |
58.0 |
8.47 |
3.63 |
0.4 |
SU1 |
Mark Lowe |
60.0 |
9.05 |
3.56 |
0.5 |
SU2 |
Justin Wilson |
58.7 |
8.87 |
3.60 |
0.5 |
SU3 |
Drew VerHagen |
53.0 |
5.79 |
4.26 |
0.0 |
|
Rest of Pen |
|
|
|
0.7 |
Kansas City Royals
|
Player |
IP |
K/9 |
FIP |
WAR |
SP1 |
Edinson Volquez |
169.0 |
6.75 |
4.34 |
1.4 |
SP2 |
Yordano Ventura |
175.0 |
8.34 |
3.69 |
2.8 |
SP3 |
Ian Kennedy |
172.3 |
7.86 |
4.41 |
1.4 |
SP4 |
Kris Medlen |
125.0 |
6.18 |
4.32 |
1.1 |
SP5 |
Chris Young |
117.7 |
6.05 |
4.91 |
0.1 |
SP6 |
Danny Duffy |
125.3 |
7.40 |
4.13 |
1.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CL |
Wade Davis |
65.7 |
11.00 |
2.66 |
1.3 |
SU1 |
Joakim Soria |
53.0 |
8.78 |
3.48 |
0.5 |
SU2 |
Kelvin Herrera |
63.7 |
9.41 |
3.21 |
0.8 |
SU3 |
Luke Hochevar |
40.3 |
8.54 |
3.93 |
0.2 |
|
Rest of Pen |
|
|
|
0.7 |
Minnesota Twins
|
Player |
IP |
K/9 |
FIP |
WAR |
SP1 |
Phil Hughes |
182.3 |
6.49 |
3.88 |
2.6 |
SP2 |
Ervin Santana |
167.0 |
6.70 |
4.26 |
1.7 |
SP3 |
Kyle Gibson |
175.7 |
6.34 |
4.01 |
2.3 |
SP4 |
Tyler Duffey |
131.3 |
6.60 |
4.13 |
1.5 |
SP5 |
Tommy Milone |
113.0 |
7.15 |
4.13 |
0.9 |
SP6 |
Ricky Nolasco |
103.0 |
6.88 |
4.24 |
1.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CL |
Glenn Perkins |
60.0 |
9.10 |
3.38 |
0.6 |
SU1 |
Kevin Jepsen |
63.0 |
8.53 |
3.73 |
0.4 |
SU2 |
Casey Fien |
57.3 |
7.45 |
3.76 |
0.4 |
SU3 |
Trevor May |
79.7 |
8.55 |
3.70 |
1.0 |
|
Rest of Pen |
|
|
|
0.3 |
Totals
So for a quick recap, let's re-total up each of the WAR from each of the groupings as before:
|
CLE |
CHW |
DET |
KC |
MIN |
Rotation |
16.9 |
15.5 |
10.3 |
7.9 |
10.1 |
Bullpen |
3.6 |
3.6 |
2.1 |
3.5 |
2.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
20.5 |
19.1 |
12.4 |
11.4 |
12.8 |
In a very surprising turn of events, the Royals actually project to be the worst pitching staff in the division while the Tribe again comes out on top as a whole. Even the bullpen for the Indians compares favorably to the rest of the division. And honestly, if we are looking at the two staffs as a whole, the Indians and White Sox have significant edges compared to their rivals.