NL West Pitching: Are the Giants still the Frontrunners?

Can Clayton Kershaw round back into Cy Young form and lead a voracious starting rotation to the promised land in 2013? By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “Clayton Kershaw”) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

While there are still many bona fide power hitters in the majors (Miguel Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Robinson Cano, etc.), building a strong pitching rotation has become more of a prominent priority for successful teams. Just last season (2011), baseball had a pitcher, Justin Verlander, win both the MVP award and the CY Young award in the American League. Pitching has always been important to America’s pastime but now it’s more crucial than ever.

Here is my sixth installment and this time I’m taking my talents to the National League, breaking down each team’s potential starting rotation for the 2013 season with the average Earned Run Average (I know averaging an average isn’t scientifically sound, but I’m doing it anyway…): This time, the spotlight is on the NL West…

San Francisco Giants:

1. Matt Cain (16-5, 2.79 ERA, 193 Strikeouts)
2. Madison Bumgarner (16-11, 3.37 ERA, 191 Strikeouts)
3. Tim Lincecum (10-15, 5.18 ERA, 190 Strikeouts)
4. Ryan Vogelsong (14-9, 3.37 ERA, 158 Strikeouts)
5. Barry Zito (15-8, 4.15 ERA, 114 Strikeouts)

Average Combined 2012 ERA: 3.77

Los Angeles Dodgers:

1. Clayton Kershaw (14-9, 2.53 ERA, 229 Strikeouts)
2. Zack Greinke (15-5, 3.48 ERA, 200 Strikeouts)
3. Josh Beckett (7-14, 4.65 ERA, 132 Strikeouts)
4. Hyun-Jin Ryu, stats from Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) (9-9, 2.66 ERA, 210 Strikeouts)
5. Chad Billingsley (10-9, 3.55 ERA, 128 Strikeouts)

Average Combined 2012 ERA: 3.37

Arizona Diamondbacks:

1. Ian Kennedy (15-12, 4.02 ERA, 187 Strikeouts)
2. Trevor Cahill (13-12, 3.78 ERA, 156 Strikeouts)
3. Brandon McCarthy (8-6, 3.24 ERA, 73 Strikeouts)
4. Wade Miley (16-11, 3.33 ERA, 144 Strikeouts)
5. Tyler Skaggs (1-3, 5.83 ERA, 21 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 4.04

San Diego Padres:

1. Edinson Volquez (11-11, 4.14 ERA, 174 Strikeouts)
2. Clayton Richard (14-14, 3.99 ERA, 107 Strikeouts)
3. Jason Marquis (8-11, 5.22 ERA, 91 Strikeouts)
4. Eric Stults (8-3, 2.91 ERA, 55 Strikeouts)
5. Casey Kelly (2-3, 6.21 ERA, 26 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 4.49

Colorado Rockies:

1.  Jose de la Rosa (0-2, 9.28 ERA, 6 Strikeouts)
2.  Jhoulys Chacin (3-5, 4.43 ERA, 45 Strikeouts)
3.  Drew Pomeranz (2-9, 4.93 ERA, 83 Strikeouts)
4.  Juan Nicasio (2-3, 5.28 ERA, 54 Strikeouts)
5.  Jeff Francis (6-7, 5.58 ERA, 76 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 5.90

The stats above are from the 2012 season and based off of ERA alone. We know averaging ERA’s isn’t a great metric, but we’re doing it anyway.

This is one of the tricky divisions to evaluate because I believe that every team in this division can be good next season. That being said, a “good season” has a different meaning for each team.

For the Colorado Rockies, their pitching can’t get any worse than it was last season, with the starting rotation posting almost a 6.00 ERA (above). The Padres numbers also weren’t pretty, but San Diego is a young team and young teams can do some damage in this division.

Three teams can actually contend: The Giants, Dodgers, and D-backs.

Arizona contended until the last week or so of the season until finally fading away.  The Diamondbacks won 81 games last season and 94 in 2011, winning their division with basically the same core players that they have now. There is no reason they can’t repeat that success this year.

Speaking of those big-dogs, how can we forget the World Champs? The Giants have the same rotation and lineup as they did this past year. Why fix what isn’t broke, right? Repeating is a very difficult thing to do in sports (except in the Alabama football program’s case) but with reigning National League MVP, Buster Posey, it isn’t too farfetched to think about a repeat. The Giants will be trying to become the first team since the Yankees from 1998-2000 to win back to back championships.

As for the other big-dog team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, have spent a whole lot of money on what people are now calling, “the new look Yankees”. Throw in the Boston deal from August combined with the offseason spending (Greinke and Ryu) and the Dodgers payroll for the 2013 season is over $200 million. The main question being asked about this team is “Will they live up to the hype?” and my answer to that is yes. They went 8-2 to end the season, just barely missing the Wild Card.

Not often am I to say this about my favorite team because I am a very harsh critic about sports (I will admit it) but I truly believe that Magic Johnson and the rest of the Dodgers management will end the 25-year title drought and bring the title back to Los Angeles. Whether or not I am right about the Dodgers, the NL West is set to be a barn-burning race.