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| TODAY: Monday, May 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player ratings: Starting pitchers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the ESPN.com player ratings. Our panel of baseball authorities will rank the 10 best at each position. The basic question is this: Which player do you want at that position for the 2000 season?
For more about our panel, check the the catchers page. The numbers used in the chart below are explained at the bottom of the page.
Other positions: C | DH | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | LF | CF | RF | CL
Position comments Brandon Funston: With David Cone and Roger Clemens getting a little long in the tooth, expect Orlando Hernandez to establish himself as the clear ace of the Yankees' staff in 2000. The torch was passed during New York's World Series run last year when he went 3-0 with just four earned runs allowed in 30 postseason innings. A big-game pitcher, Hernandez need only improve his regular-season focus to reach his potential. Underrated: Jamie Moyer. While statistics do a good job of telling his story, Moyer, like Greg Maddux, must be watched to be appreciated. Although his fastball struggles to hit the mid-80s, he changes speed and location so well that hitters usually end up looking foolish. In a league where a good ERA can live in the mid-4's, Moyer's ERA hasn't topped 4.00 since '95. The past four years, he's a remarkable 59-25. Overrated: Wilson Alvarez. Jabba the Hut takes better care of himself and shows a better temperament than Alvarez. He has been a disappointment since the mid-'90s, failing to evolve into a smarter pitcher despite entering his 11th season in the league. Rany Jazayerli: Has there ever been a gap between the best pitcher and the second-best pitcher in a league greater than the one between Pedro Martinez and his pursuers? Martinez's 2.07 ERA last season was 137 points ahead of any other pitcher in the American League, easily the largest margin of ever. Without Pedro, David Cone would have led the league with a 3.44 ERA -- which would have been the highest ERA by a league leader in history.. Underrated: Steve Woodard is Greg Maddux lite, an extreme control specialist who gives up a few too many hits because he keeps everything in the strike zone, but could become a perennial 15-18 game winner once he learns to paint the corners a little better. Overrated: Memo to Bill Stoneman: Kent Bottenfield isn't that good. He's a .500 pitcher who had a career year and lucked into an 18-7 record because the Cardinals scored over six runs a start for him. Keith Law: Is Roger Clemens finished? Last year, he failed to strike out a man an inning for the first time since he was hurt in '95, and he posted the worst full-season ERA of his career. But his velocity wasn't down, and he rushed back from a groin pull in the first half only to find that he wasn't fooling hitters as well as he had in '98. The Yankees' season will turn on the health and effectiveness of their starting pitchers. Clemens' fate may determine that of the Yanks. Underrated: Omar Daal is probably one of the top five left-handed starters in the majors, and has an ERA of 3.32 with the Diamondbacks. Think Montreal wishes they hadn't waived him in the summer of '97? Overrated: Andy Benes has had one really good year ('97) in the last seven. He's hittable, he's a little wild, and his strikeout rates are consistently below what someone with his stuff should have. Graham Hays: Jose Lima will be a popular choice to fall flat on his face in 2000, but I couldn't leave him out of my top 10 when taking his last two seasons into account. Lima won five more games in 1999 than he had in 1998, but aside from that often overrated statistic, last year's numbers were almost dead even with his outstanding 1998 statistics. The biggest concern for 2000 is that in each of the last two campaigns, Lima has pitched noticeably better in the Astrodome than on the road. Will the move to Enron Field hurt his chances of a third straight stellar season? Many say yes, but until there are results to substantiate that belief, he's earned his ranking. Underrated: Ask someone for a list of the best lefties in the American League and you'll likely hear David Wells and Chuck Finley mentioned before Seattle's Moyer. That's a shame because the 37-year-old has emerged as one of the most consistent southpaws in baseball, let alone the American League. His recent accomplishments have been tarnished by a reputation forged as a journeyman pitcher who spent his first nine years with six teams. That's no longer the case for a control pitcher who made the most out of a tough stint in the Kingdome and will now reap the benefits of Safeco Field. Overrated: Valdes seems like a perfect fit for a Cubs franchise that often appears more interested in name recognition than potential productivity. Valdes is a fragile pitcher who survived, but rarely thrived, by pitching half his games in a great pitcher's park. He'll be an average pitcher for an average team. David Schoenfield: Can Tim Hudson repeat his terrific rookie performance, when he went 11-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 21 starts? You don't put up those kind of numbers by accident. Hudson is built physically along the lines of Pedro Martinez, but he has a nasty array of pitchers, including a sinker that keeps the ball in the park (eight home runs in 136.1 innings). If he wins 15-18 games, the A's win the AL West. Underrated: A good starting pitcher must be durable and consistent. Brad Radke fits that description. He's pitched more than 213 innings the past four seasons and never misses a start. He was fourth in the AL in ERA last season and his 12-14 record is only a reflection of his poor run support. Overrated: Aaron Sele has won 37 games the past year with good pitching and great run support. His 4.79 ERA last year was barely below the AL average. Moving to Safeco Field, his ERA is likely to drop a notch -- but so will his win total. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||