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How does the Cleveland Indians pitching staff compare with the rest of the AL Central?

With each of the pitching areas summarized, let us combine all into one succinct summary.

By talonk
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

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.

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