With all the "Who will be the #5 Starter talk", HBT has great timing and posted an article about the average ERA for starting pitchers here:

 

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...your-4-starter/

 

Here is the average breakdown by league and starter:

Lg      #1      #2      #3      #4      #5

MLB     3.60    4.14    4.58    5.10    6.24

AL      3.70    4.24    4.58    5.09    6.22

NL      3.51    4.04    4.57    5.11    6.26
 

SOX     4.28    4.52    4.54    4.85    4.99

It is interesting to see that the average #5 starter in the majors had a 6.24 ERA, and the average #4 starter had a 5.10 ERA.

 

The Sox, Tigers, and Padres were the only teams with a #5 starter with an ERA under 5.00. However, only Texas and KC had a worse #1 starter than the Sox in the AL, and the Sox #1 and #2 were both worse than the league averages.

 

From these numbers it looks like the Sox can plug a guy like Haeger into the #5 slot pretty easily.

With all the "Who will be the #5 Starter talk", HBT has great timing and posted an article about the average ERA for starting pitchers here:

 

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...your-4-starter/

 

Here is the average breakdown by league and starter:

Lg      #1      #2      #3      #4      #5

MLB     3.60    4.14    4.58    5.10    6.24

AL      3.70    4.24    4.58    5.09    6.22

NL      3.51    4.04    4.57    5.11    6.26
 

SOX     4.28    4.52    4.54    4.85    4.99

It is interesting to see that the average #5 starter in the majors had a 6.24 ERA, and the average #4 starter had a 5.10 ERA.

 

The Sox, Tigers, and Padres were the only teams with a #5 starter with an ERA under 5.00. However, only Texas and KC had a worse #1 starter than the Sox in the AL, and the Sox #1 and #2 were both worse than the league averages.

 

From these numbers it looks like the Sox can plug a guy like Haeger into the #5 slot pretty easily.

I would not say easily because of how poor our top two starters are in terms of league averages. If our one and two pitch like this, we need our five to certainly pitch like a number three, numbers wise. I am not sure Haeger can post a 4.58 ERA this year in the bigs, but I think he would have better numbers than Danks or Floyd.

I think in cross country we would call that a nice pack.

You could manipulate the numbers by splitting Garland and Buehrle.

 

Garland's first 16 starts with Buehrle's last 16 is a 5th starter with an ERA of 6.31

 

Buehrle's first 16 starts with Garlands last 17 is an ACE with an ERA of 3.33.

 

Those starts didn't overlap. The hard switch took place on July 1. We had an ACE in our rotation all year long, but we also had a below replacement level 5th starter.

You could manipulate the numbers by splitting Garland and Buehrle.

 

Garland's first 16 starts with Buehrle's last 16 is a 5th starter with an ERA of 6.31

 

Buehrle's first 16 starts with Garlands last 17 is an ACE with an ERA of 3.33.

 

Those starts didn't overlap. The hard switch took place on July 1. We had an ACE in our rotation all year long, but we also had a below replacement level 5th starter.

That is amazing, its almost like they switched jerseys.

Edited December 27, 200619 yr by RME JICO