Philly Sports Post - Home of the PSP Podcast

I expect the Phillies starting pitching to be improved over last season, which is good. The bad news is that I can see a lot of other teams improving as well.

Of the teams I currently considered playoff contenders, or coming of a playoff season, here are the win totals of their starters in 2008:
• Chicago Cubs- 69 Carlos Zambrano was third on this team in wins, and he is now in Vincente Padilla territory. Sure he’s got an incredible arm, but the guy just can’t keep it together for an extended period of time. If Carlos does stay on track for an entire season, he is more than capable of running away with the Cy Young award. The scary thing about the Cubs rotation is that you could say the same thing about another of their pitchers, just substitute Rich Harden for Zambrano, and insert injured instead of crazy-ass headcase.
• St. Louis Cardinals- 64 The Cardinals’ staff may improve in 2009 if Chris Carpenter can stay healthy. Carpenter is replacing 12-game winner Braden Looper, and if healthy could put this group over the top as the NL’s best. If that happens, and the Cubs staff stays as strong as it was in 2008, then the Phillies and Mets may only have one option to make the playoffs.
• New York Mets- 61 The Mets are the Phillies’ primary competition, getting ahead of the Mets in this category would be crushing to the Mets’ hope of an NL East title since the Phillies have a better bullpen, and are much better at coming from behind late in games.
• Milwaukee Brewers-59 The Brewers staff is a shadow of what it was last season. The Brew Crew lost CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, leaving a stacked rotation now mediocre at best.
• LA Dodgers-56 Derek Lowe and Greg Maddux are no longer in blue, leaving a lot of question marks surrounding this staff. This squad could be the best in the NL, if number one starter Chad Billingsley shakes off a disastrous NLCS and returns to his 2008 form, if Clayton Kershaw can avoid rookie pitfalls and pitch to his talent, and if Jason Schmidt can do anything to contribute. This staff could be a disaster if Billingsley can’t shake failing to perform in the big games of October, if Kershaw is up and down as rookies tend to be, and if Wolf and Schmidt live up to their injured histories and can’t provide innings.
• Florida-53 A young staff that should improve if healthy. Florida had 10 different pitchers log multiple starts in 2008, so with some health and stability this team should continue to grow and perhaps even flourish.
• Atlanta-50 Ironically, Atlanta’s pitching was terrible in 2008, but they wasted no time in shaking things up. The Braves added Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Japanese import Kenshin Kawakami. Returning from 2008 will be promising 23-year old Jair Jurrjens who won 13 games for the Braves last year, and Tom Glavine who only started 13 games in 2008 due to injuries. Probably the most improved staff in the league.