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MLB: Pick a Chicago Rotation

Pick 5 pitchers

  • Carlos Zambrano

    Votes: 86 92.5%

  • Ryan Dempster

    Votes: 64 68.8%

  • Rich Harden

    Votes: 74 79.6%

  • Ted Lilly

    Votes: 53 57.0%

  • Sean Marshall

    Votes: 20 21.5%

  • Mark Buehrle

    Votes: 60 64.5%

  • Gavin Floyd

    Votes: 33 35.5%

  • Jose Contreras

    Votes: 14 15.1%

  • John Danks

    Votes: 47 50.5%

  • Bartolo Colon

    Votes: 12 12.9%
  • Total voters
    93
CrossCyed

CrossCyed

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
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If you were able to pick five starters from the current starting rotation of the two Chicago teams (not just for this year), what would your rotation be? I think this would be rather interesting, taking contract situations into consideration. Both teams pitch in places where the ball flies, so take that into consideration (and yes, I would select some Cubs...:wink: )

2009 and 2008 stats

Carlos Zambrano (1-0, 3.00; 14-6, 3.91) age 27
5 years, 91.5 million thru 2012 (08:$15M, 09:$17.75M, 10:$17.875M, 11:$17.875M, 12:$18M, 13:$19.25M vesting player option
); Full NTC

Ryan Dempster (0-0, 3.00, 17-6, 2.96) age 31
4 years/$52M (2009-12) (09:$8M, 10:$12.5M, 11:$13.5M, 12:$14M player option)

Rich Harden (0-0, 1.50, 5-1, 1.77 w Cubs) age 27
$7 million club option for 09

Ted Lilly (1-0, 9.00, 17-9, 4.09) age 33
4 years/$40M (2007-10) (07:$5M, 08:$7M, 09:$12M, 10:$12M) No Trade Protection

Sean Marshall (-; 3-5, 3.86) age 26
Arb. eligible 09-11, FA in '12

-----


Mark Buehrle (1-0, 2.38; 15-12, 3.79) age 30
4 years/$56M (2008-11)
08:$14M, 09:$14M, 10:$14M, 11:$14M
no-trade protection
2008: full no-trade clause
2009 - July 15, 2010: limited no-trade protection allowing Buehrle to block trades to certain unspecified clubs. A trade triggers an escalator paying $1M raise to $15M annually, plus a guaranteed fifth year paying $15M for 2012.
July 16, 2010-2011: Buehrle may not be traded without his permission, under right as 10-and-5 player

Gavin Floyd (0-1, 2.57; 17-8, 3.84) age 26 4 years/$15.5M (2009-12), plus 2013 club option
(09:$0.75M, 10:$2.75M, 11:$5M, 12:$7M, 13:$9.5M club option)

Bartolo Colon (1-0, 0.00; 4-2, 3.29) age 35
1 year/$1M (2009)

John Danks (0-0, 0.00; 12-9, 3.32) age 23
2009: Near Minimum, 2010-12: Arb. Eligible, 2013: Free Agent

Jose Contreras (0-1, 7.20; 7-6, 4.54) age 37-51
$10 million, in last year of contract


So....pick a rotation for the next five years....and let's say your payroll will be around that of the Cubs (135ish million). Do you worry about winning now, winning in the future, or both? With guys like Harden, you may or may not be able to resign him....

Fun game, eh?
 
Last edited:
I went with Zambrano, Harden, Floyd, Danks and Buehrle, with Buehrle edging out Dempster by a nose thanks to track record and the fact that Buehrle has never been on the DL.

I will say anyone not taking Danks....I can't understand that.
 
Zambrano's good....that's a fat contract though. With Harden you'd run the risk of losing him after this year, but he's also damn good, but he's also really prone to injury.

I'd never pick Colon or Contreras, btw.
 
Two things confuse me, why would anyone vote for Colon/Contreras, and why does Ted Lilly have the same amount of votes as John Danks? Danks is better, younger, and much cheaper.
 
CrossCyed said:
Two things confuse me, why would anyone vote for Colon/Contreras, and why does Ted Lilly have the same amount of votes as John Danks? Danks is better, younger, and much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Because even though your intentions of this post are good, I still refuse to vote for any white sox pitcher! :biglaugh:
 
CrossCyed said:
Zambrano's good....that's a fat contract though. With Harden you'd run the risk of losing him after this year, but he's also damn good, but he's also really prone to injury.

I'd never pick Colon or Contreras, btw.
Click to expand...


I'd take one year of Harden over several years of Zambrano.

Also Zambrano isn't really that good. Look at his K:BB ratio and his K/9 over the past few years. He got only 14 wins in the team with the best record in the league.

He's also a headcase and I wouldn't want to deal with any of that.
 
everyone is talking trash about zambrano being a headcase and what not...but yet he is the best pitcher on both staffs and known as one of the best in the pros...jst because im a cubs fan doesnt mean i dont agree but how can u not take obv the best pitcher out of the ten and one of the top 15 in the league!!
 
If I was picking a team I would start with Danks. Biggest upside of anybody on the list, only 24, finished 5th in league ERA last year.

Seems to handle pressure well for a young guy. Beat Twins 1-0 in tie breaker game last year, then won playoff start.
 
Tweedt4Cy said:
everyone is talking trash about zambrano being a headcase and what not...but yet he is the best pitcher on both staffs and known as one of the best in the pros...jst because im a cubs fan doesnt mean i dont agree but how can u not take obv the best pitcher out of the ten and one of the top 15 in the league!!
Click to expand...

He struck out only 130 guys last year. He walked almost 100 guys last year. His ERA was just under 4. He is NOT the best pitcher on the list and definitley NOT one of the best in the league. Please actually look at the stats instead of going off of 4 or 5 years ago....
 
mplscyclone said:
He struck out only 130 guys last year. He walked almost 100 guys last year. His ERA was just under 4. He is NOT the best pitcher on the list and definitley NOT one of the best in the league. Please actually look at the stats instead of going off of 4 or 5 years ago....
Click to expand...

Whos the best pitcher on the list then??? One down year doesnt mean anything for a guy that has finished in the cy young voting 3 times in his career and was also an MVP candidate....and last year was the first year in 5 straight years he hasnt finished in the top 5 or so in k's... and his 3.47 career era, .661 career win percentage and his 1200 k's appparently arent good...so whos better than him???

I'll admit i would love to have danks because hes young and very good but i believe zambrano is only 27 or so....still pretty young for an ace!
 
Two things: Carlos Zambrano is only 27? Wow, he fell apart quickly.
Also, I hope the 7 people that chose Big Fat Bartolo Colon were joking.
 
Clone5 said:
Two things: Carlos Zambrano is only 27? Wow, he fell apart quickly.
Also, I hope the 7 people that chose Big Fat Bartolo Colon were joking.
Click to expand...

So one bad year means u have fallin appart...wow i bet there are a ton of pitchers in the pros that would kill to have 14 wins last year...and his career stats....funny how people think that u cant have one bad year. He is the best pitcher on the list even with the down year last year!
 
And so tom glavine when he was with the braves... went 14-11 with a 4.12 era with 138 k's and had a terrible year in 1999 but then u look at 2000 and he went 21-9 with a 3.40 era and 152 k's....guess back then u were all over him for having a down year and then he proved u wrong the next year right...so this cant happen to big z???? very weird to me!!!
 
Carlos Zambrano is far and away the best pitcher on that list... Harden has the best stuff of any of them, but has the always iffy injury situation... Dempster is nasty, but doenst have the track record... i still took those three. im a big fan of Gavin Floyd so i took him, then it was between Lilly and Danks. Danks is younger and probably will end up being better, but right now lilly is my choice because he is a such a though competitor and always seems to snap losing streaks
 
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