The starting rotation is where the Sox have spent most of their money, and this is where the Sox make strides against some of the best teams in baseball.  The midseason acquisition of Jake Peavy adding a true ace to the top of a staff of Mark Buehrle, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Freddy Garcia, gives the Sox one of the best rotations in the league.  With the two stars at the top followed by Danks and Floyd who are both on the brink of becoming great, and Garcia as the five man, the White Sox have as deep a rotation as anyone.

There is a lot of concern about how Peavy will be able to hold up at the Cell.  The concern is warranted and is a key to how well the Sox pitching staff performs this season, but he has a lot more wiggle room than he ever had in San Diego.  Peavy's career numbers project him to win around 15 games with an ERA in the mid 3's and to strike out more than 200.  Sure his numbers may inflate a little bit because of the homer-friendly ballpark, but his offense should be able to back him up much more than in the past. Peavy has won 19 games only once, yet has had an ERA under 3.00 4 times in his career.  In Chicago, a sub 3.00 ERA is near impossible.  But, in Chicago, an ERA in the mid to low 3's will almost always lead to a 15+ win season.  So sure his ERA may jump, but his win total, and more over, his effectiveness should not take too much of a hit.

In the AL Central there are a few star pitchers, but not one dominant rotation.  The Royals post reigning Cy Young winner Zack Grienke, but follow him with Gil Meche, Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies, and Brian Bannister.  Not bad at the top, but nothing to build off any success created by the first two.  The Tigers have former Cy Young, JustinVerlander, but back him with Porcello, Bonderman, Robertson, and Scherzer.  Again, pretty darn good at 1 and 2, but not too much to follow.  The Indians have Westbrook and Carmona, but rely on Masterson, Huff and Laffey as well.  The Twins (Blackburn, Baker, Slowey, Liriano, Pavano) post a little more consistency throughout the staff, but lack the true ace.

Not only would I take the Sox top two against any of the other top pairs, but I'd be willing to take the Sox 3 and 4 against anyone else's 2 and 3.  Peavy puts the Sox in the mix with as to who has the best "ace".  Buehrle is without a doubt the best 2 starter in the division.  And Danks, Floyd, and Garcia give the Sox the deepest rotation in the division by a long shot.  The only full staff I can see even in the question with the Sox is Minnesota's.  You know what you are going to get out of every pitcher in a Twins uniform, strikes, strikes, and more strikes.  But you also know that unless there's another Johan Santana that we don't know about, none of those guys will be aces.  The WhiteSox 1-4 all have a shot at being a top-line guy, the Twins might luck out with one.

The Sox stronghold on the division when it comes to rotations doesn't extend as much to the rest of the AL, but they are certainly in the question at or near the top.  The best rotation in the league on paper is clearly the Yankees.  WithSabathia, Burnett, Pettitte and Chamberlain returning from 2009's best rotation, the Yankees added former White Sox starter Javy Vazquez to round out the staff.  Vazquez has struggled in New York in the past, and as Sox fans know well, he's not very good in big games, but slotting an NL Cy Young contender in as the 3-starter, and you got yourself a dominant rotation.

The Red Sox, Angels, and Rays all have really good rotations, but with the acquisition of Cliff Lee, the Mariners have a chance to jumpall three of them as the 2nd best in the AL. But with Snell, Rowland-Smith and Fister slotting in at 3,4,5 they might be a little short at the back end.

If I had to rank them all, the Sox would fall in 3rd behind the Yankees and Red Sox, but with a breakthrough year from Danks and/or Floyd they can easily catapult into that top spot.

Photo courtesy of vivalavidro.files.wordpress.com.

Written by :

Ken Boehlke

 

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