Quote:
Originally Posted by alnorth
Yeah, if 1 or 2 of the young guys blow up, they can easily carry us up to at least 91 wins, and that could be enough to possibly win the division if the Tigers take a step back as expected (hoped).
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Yeah. People forget that last year's rotation carried 204 1/3 shitty innings from Wade Davis and Luis Mendoza in the 4/5 spots (or about 2/3 of the IP you expect from your 4/5 starters).
Collectively, the Royals got this line from the 4/5 starters (includes Davis, Mendoza, Chen - who was good but not great - Duffy, Ventura and Will Smith):
335 1/3 IP
173 ER
4.64 ERA
496 BB/H allowed
1.48 WHIP
Worst offenders - by far - were Davis and Mendoza. 5.42 ERA and 1.66 WHIP from those guys in 204 1/3 IP as starters.
Rest of the guys combined for a 3.44 ERA and 1.27 WHIP.
There were several weights around the teams neck in 2013. Most have been eliminated (Francoeur, Getz, Mendoza) moved into less impactful/hurtful roles (Davis) or insured against (Moustakas).
SIDE NOTE: This is a great example of WHY Wade Davis should have an extremely short leash if he opens the season in the rotation, and why I'd still look at bringing in one more back-end veteran pitcher.