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Best in Baseball: AL Pitchers
Posted February 14th ago via ArmchairGM
1 Dirtlocker Point for each player mentioned in this post:





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Continuing my however-many part series (I haven't been keeping track), this one's when I choose the best pitcher on each American League team. Like this guy said, a lot of these are pretty easy choices, but hopefully I can provide some reasons why I believe these things. American League East Baltimore Orioles The pitching situation for the Orioles becomes very murky after the Bedard trade. In terms of pure stuff, Daniel Cabrera blows the rest of the staff away. Unfortunately, the phrase million dollar arm, five cent head' applies to Cabrera. In his four seasons in the majors, he's walked 388 batters, including 108 last year and 104 in 2006, both years leading the AL in that category. That, combined with the fact that he's never had an ERA below the league average, effectively rules him out of this discussion. Adam Loewen, a 23-year-old lefty, showed some promise in his first 6 starts in 2007, posting a 3.56 ERA. I don't think he's a viable option, though, for two reasons. First, he missed most of the 2007 with a stress fracture in his pitching elbow. Secondly, in that good start in 2007, he actually walked more batters (26) than strikeouts (22), and that's not a recipe for success. Finally we come to former Indians first-rounder Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie has real potential, and in his first full season, put up some very good numbers. His 3.70 ERA was impressive, as was his 1.209 WHIP and the 47 walks in 175 1/3 IP. Winner: Jeremy Guthrie Boston Red Sox Josh Beckett was great last year. He led the Red Sox in ERA (3.27, 6 th in the AL) and WHIP (1.141, tied for 5 th). He was even better during the postseason. He's the best pitcher on the Red Sox staff, hands down. Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled last year in his rookie' year, but he still managed to lead the Red Sox in innings pitched (204 2/3), strikeouts (201), and was 5 th in the AL in K/9 ratio of 8.84. After having a season to adjust to major league hitters, I expect that his numbers will improve...

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