Available FA Starting Pitchers

[Migrant Redbird]

FYI, here is a table derived from The Hardball Times stats showing the 2008 stats of the remaining FA starting pitchers, ranked by PRC (Pitching Runs Created, actually runs prevented, analogous to Runs Created for a hitter). I omitted guys who didn't pitch in 2008 or have announced retirement, but it's still about all that's available to fill out team rotations. I put this together to help me evaluate the available pitching, but maybe someone else will find it useful too?

I trimmed some stats from the table as redundant (hits) or irrelevant (saves) to make it fit the page better, but you may still need to scroll over to the right to see some of the more useful measurands (e.g., K/G, BB/G). You also may need to scroll down to see those on the bottom of the list, but those guys are probably not worth it.

                                                                              FIPPlayer     Tm GS ShO W  L   ERA   IP   K   BB WHIP HR  ER DP PRC   RA   FIP   -ERA xFIP  K/G BB/G HR/GSheets    MIL 31  3 13  9  3.09 198.3 158  47 1.15 17  68 11  99  3.36  3.42  0.33 4.18  7.5  2.2  0.8Lowe      LAN 34  0 14 11  3.24 211   147  45 1.13 14  76 21  95  3.58  3.23 -0.02 3.43  6.7  2.0  0.6Pettitte  NYA 33  0 14 14  4.54 204   158  55 1.41 19 103 17  76  4.94  3.74 -0.80 3.79  6.9  2.4  0.8Ol.Perez  NYN 34  0 10  7  4.22 194   180 105 1.40 24  91 17  73  4.64  4.69  0.46 5.02  8.2  4.8  1.1Looper    STL 33  1 12 14  4.16 199   108  45 1.31 25  92 26  68  4.57  4.58  0.42 4.59  5.0  2.1  1.2Garland   LAA 32  0 14  8  4.90 196.7  90  59 1.51 23 107 28  59  5.31  4.80 -0.10 4.65  4.0  2.6  1.0Od.Perez  WAS 30  0  7 12  4.34 159.7 119  55 1.48 22  77 14  56  4.90  4.61  0.27 4.47  6.5  3.0  1.2Redding   WAS 33  0 10 11  4.95 182   120  65 1.43 27 100 21  56  5.44  4.92 -0.03 4.99  5.9  3.2  1.3Rogers    DET 30  0  9 13  5.70 173.7  82  71 1.63 22 110 32  46  6.12  5.26 -0.44 5.44  4.0  3.5  1.1Wolf      SD  21  0  6 10  4.74 119.7 105  47 1.42 14  63 13  37  5.19  4.35 -0.39 4.49  7.8  3.5  1.0Martinez  NYN 20  0  5  6  5.61 109    87  44 1.57 19  68 10  31  5.78  5.17 -0.45 4.61  6.8  3.5  1.5Wolf      HOU 12  1  6  2  3.57  70.7  57  24 1.30  7  28  5  30  3.95  3.90  0.33 4.49  7.3  3.1  0.9Chacon    HOU 15  0  2  3  5.04  85.7  53  41 1.51 16  48 10  25  5.46  5.72  0.68 5.49  5.5  4.2  1.7Ponson    NYA 15  0  4  4  5.85  80    33  32 1.64 11  52 12  21  5.96  5.51 -0.34 5.08  3.5  3.4  1.2Smoltz    ATL  5  0  3  2  2.57  28    36   8 1.18  2   8  1  19  2.57  2.31 -0.26 2.85 11.9  2.6  0.7Byrd      BOS  8  0  4  2  4.78  49    26  10 1.39  8  26  5  18  4.78  5.03  0.25 4.96  4.8  1.9  1.5Lieber    CHN  1  0  2  3  4.05  46.7  27   6 1.39 10  21  6  17  4.63  5.09  1.04 4.43  5.1  1.1  1.9Fogg      CIN 14  0  2  7  7.58  78.3  45  27 1.58 17  66  9  15  7.93  6.10 -1.48 5.60  4.8  2.9  1.8Colon     BOS  7  0  4  2  3.92  39    27  10 1.38  5  17  3  14  5.31  4.44  0.51 4.60  6.0  2.2  1.1Estes     SD   8  0  2  3  4.74  43.7  19  18 1.56  6  23  5  11  5.36  5.49  0.75 5.07  3.7  3.5  1.2Pavano    NYA  7  0  4  2  5.77  34.3  15  10 1.49  5  22  4   9  6.03  5.47 -0.29 5.65  3.8  2.5  1.3Redman    COL  9  0  2  5  7.54  45.3  20  16 1.70  7  38  7   9  7.94  5.32 -2.22 4.86  3.7  2.9  1.3Hernandez COL  8  0  3  3  8.03  40.3  13  14 1.79  7  36  8   7  8.03  5.85 -2.18 5.49  2.7  2.9  1.5Garcia    DET  3  0  1  1  4.20  15    12   6 1.13  3   7  1   6  4.80  5.63  1.43 4.80  7.6  3.8  1.9Trachsel  BAL  8  0  2  5  8.39  39.7  16  27 2.02 10  37  5   6  9.30  7.82 -0.58 6.79  3.2  5.4  2.0Belisle   CIN  6  0  1  4  7.28  29.7  14   6 1.79  4  24  3   5  8.19  4.62 -2.66 4.31  3.8  1.6  1.1James     ATL  7  0  2  5  9.10  29.7  22  20 1.89 10  30  2   5  9.10  8.22 -0.88 6.42  5.8  5.3  2.7Jennings  TEX  6  0  0  5  8.56  27.3  12  18 1.94  8  26  2   4  8.89  8.02 -0.54 6.16  3.4  5.1  2.3Wells     KC   0  0  0  1  8.71  10.3   9  11 2.03  1  10  3   2  8.71  6.23 -2.48 6.46  6.9  8.5  0.8Loaiza    CHA  0  0  0  0  3.00   3     1   0 1.00  1   1  0   1  6.00  6.90  3.90 4.43  3.0  0.0  3.0Haeger    SD   0  0  0  0 16.62   4.3   4   5 3.00  2   8  0   0 20.77 12.20 -4.41 9.37  5.5  6.9  2.8Mulder    STL  1  0  0  0 10.80   1.7   2   2 3.60  0   2  0   0 10.80  6.20 -4.60 9.87  6.5  6.5  0.0

Only 34 [Edit: 31] names on the list, and some of those are likely non-starters, which implies that most teams are either just about finished assembling their rotations or will promote from within.

Wasn't quite sure how to handle Wolf's split season.

                                                                FIPTm   GS ShO W  L  ERA   IP   K  BB WHIP HR ER DP PRC  RA   FIP  -ERA   xFIP K/G BB/G HR/GSD   21  0  6 10 4.74 119.7 105 47 1.42 14 63 13  37 5.19 4.35 -0.39   4.49 7.8  3.5  1.0HOU  12  1  6  2 3.57  70.7  57 24 1.30  7 28  5  30 3.95 3.90  0.33   4.49 7.3  3.1  0.9    33  1 12 12 4.30 190.4 162 71 1.38 21 91 18  67                        7.7  3.4  1.0

[TakebackOPACY]

Thanks and nice post, but those are Kris Benson's 2006 stats. I haven't cross-checked anything else, but obviousy Benson's name will jump out at people around here.

[Migrant Redbird]

Thanks and nice post, but those are Kris Benson's 2006 stats. I haven't cross-checked anything else, but obviousy Benson's name will jump out at people around here.

Sorry, I picked up on pitchers for whom the latest stats were for 2007 (and left them off the list), but I guess 2006 just looked too much like 2008.

Thanks for the correction! In addition, I apologize for listing Wolf twice on the chart I posted above, once for his accomplishments in San Diego and once for the time in Houston. I intended to correct that before I posted it, but forgot.

Here's an updated stats total for Wolf. If it's valid to add the PRC for the two periods, his total of 67 would rank him 6th on the list. (I didn't bother to try and calculate RA, FIP, or xFIP, though I did calculate ERA, WHIP, K/G, BB/G, and HR/G for the totals.)

                                                                FIPTm   GS ShO W  L  ERA   IP   K  BB WHIP HR ER DP PRC  RA   FIP  -ERA   xFIP K/G BB/G HR/GSD   21  0  6 10 4.74 119.7 105 47 1.42 14 63 13  37 5.19 4.35 -0.39   4.49 7.8  3.5  1.0HOU  12  1  6  2 3.57  70.7  57 24 1.30  7 28  5  30 3.95 3.90  0.33   4.49 7.3  3.1  0.9    33  1 12 12 4.30 190.4 162 71 1.38 21 91 18  67                        7.7  3.4  1.0

[Orioles West]

I don't know if the Birds are still looking at Redding, but I know one team that looks to be taking him off their list. The Colorado Rockies appear to be close to a deal with the Cubs to trade Vizcaino for Jason Marquis.

If that deal goes through, I think they have the 4-5 guy they were looking for.

Interesting list this late in Hot Stove.

-Don

[Andy_Dufresne]

Come on Andy, take a chance on Sheets and/or Garland, you can't be too rich or have too much starting pitching

[Orioles West]

Come on Andy, take a chance on Sheets and/or Garland, you can't be too rich or have too much starting pitching

So very, very true. Never enough pitching on any club.

-Don