In the baseball offseason, Cliff Lee, the most coveted pitcher on the free agent market, was destined to be either a New York Yankee or a Texas Ranger. However, a mysterious third team jumped into the mix late in the negotiations, with less money, and stole the left hander away from these teams. The Philadelphia Phillies.
Before the signing of Lee, the Phillies arguably had the best pitching rotation in baseball. After the signing, there were talks of having one of the best rotations of all time. As it stands now, the rotation looks something like this:
Roy Halladay – The two time CY Young award winner is coming off his best season of a 21-10 record and a 2.44 earned run average. In an era where complete games are unheard of, Halladay has pitched 27 in the past three years. He has a record of 58-31 with a combined 2.67 ERA over that span.
Cliff Lee – The 2008 American League CY Young award winner finished the season with a 22-3 record with a 2.54 ERA. Last season, he finished with a 14-12 record with 185 strikeouts to only 18 walks. As impressive as he has been in the regular season, he really shines in the postseason where he has led the Phillies through the postseason in 2009 and the Rangers through the postseason in 2010.
Roy Oswalt – Last year, Oswalt was traded from the Houston Astros to the Phillies. Once he arrived in Philly, he had a 7-1 record with an ERA under two. Oswalt has a career record of 150-83, which ranks him 11th best among active pitchers in wins. He also earned himself the National League Championship Series MVP in 2005.
Cole Hamels – Cole is best known for leading the Phillies to the World Series three years ago. He earned World Series MVP with an incredible 1.80 ERA and four wins in the postseason. He does not have the greatest regular season statistics but still has career numbers of 60-45.
There are a number of pitching rotations of seasons past that could compete with the title: ’98 Braves, ’54 Indians, ’88 Mets and the ’71 Orioles. One interesting fact about all of those past rotations; they all won the World Series at the end of the year.
The biggest question mark is whether or not these guys can stay healthy. All of them are known for being very durable over the years. They have all put together streaks of 30 plus games pitched in previous years. If they do stay healthy through this year, they have a great chance of adding a World Series ring just like the other great rotations of the past.
In today’s game, pitching longer than six innings is an abomination. Pitchers are treated like babies. It all has come down to pitch count and how many days rest someone should get. Pitchers of previous generations used to pitch every single day with no pitch count and hardly a bullpen to fall back on.
In my opinion, this Phillies rotation has the look of an older pitching rotation. All of these guys have pitched multiple complete games in previous years. This should help them reach the World Series in the long run and save a bullpen that might not be all that good.
If I had to pick a rotation to start the season with, this would be it. But, until they win that World Series, they cannot be touted as anything let alone the greatest pitching rotation of all time.
Mike Dobbs
Communications Studies
Class of 2012
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you now that Cliff Lee has signed with the Phillies they do have a pretty good pitching line up. One that can win a World Series I do not know about that but it does look good on paper. But like you said if they can stay healthy they doo have a good chance. I know they Phillies are going to try their best to keep their babies healthy.
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