Staff Infection

I know the title sounds a little gross, but I assure you this is not a medical post. Instead I'd like to take some time and discuss just what makes a good pitching staff. I want to examine how these elements can improve or diminish the other players on the team. We'll be looking at some of the best and worst rotations in the game. If there is a particular pitcher or team I leave out that you want me to discuss, just leave a comment or shoot me a message, and I'll try to get to them next time. For now, let's start the infection. That still sounds terrible.

It's not too surprising that the Oakland Athletics are finding success through their pitching thus far. They lead the majors in team ERA with a 2.59. The starting rotation wears the crown of this achievement as each man in the starting five has an ERA of 3.00 or below. Gio Gonzalez especially has been superb by giving up only 1 run in 19 innings of work, giving him an ERA of just 0.47. That is particularly odd since he has walked (12) only two less than he's struck out (14). Back to the point, though, the success of these young studs has been infectious, causing the next man to bump up his game to essentially compete with his own teammates for bragging rights. This atmosphere is now is some jeopardy as Mr. Perfect Dallas Braden is heading to the disabled list with a stiff left shoulder. Will losing one cog throw the Lean Green Machine into a tailspin?

It's hard to say. Some guys are crucial to a staff, even if they aren't the ace. Take Mark Buehrle for instance. He isn't necessarily the ace of the staff when it comes to pure pitching ability, or 'stuff' as most commentators call it. However, he is the emotional lynch pin to the White Sox' rotation. He is a solid pitcher, no doubt, but his on and off-field leadership, his gamesmanship, and his tireless efforts make him the keystone of that rotation. Jake Peavy goes down and the White Sox keep rolling. John Danks goes down and the rotation suffers greatly, but survives. If Mark Buehrle goes down, I don't believe anyone can fully step up to fill his shoes.

As further proof, look no further than the New York Mets right now. With Johan Santana in the rotation last year, Mike Pelfrey had a pretty good year being the number two. He had lots of early success, struggled late, but eventually had a 15-9 record with a 3.66 ERA. Now that Santana is out recovering from surgery, and it's up to Mike to be the number one man, it seems the pressure is too much, and Pelfrey is struggling mightily. In his first four starts Pelfrey has given up more than a run per inning and has walked more batters than he has struck out. Groundball pitcher or not, you can't walk that many guys and get away with it. And this failure has leached its way into the rest of the staff. R.A. Dickey and Jonathan Niese have attempted to step up to take some pressure off of the overworked bullpen, but have had troubles of their own; mainly due to Dickey's knuckleball not being as effective, and Niese only having two pitches. So one guy's hard time becomes everyone's hard time.

On the flipside, having a guy mature at just the right time can be a tremendous boost for the team. Just look at the Cleveland Indians. Having a dominating starting rotation has been making all the difference. Justin Masterson with his fastball, sinker, slider, change-up repertoire has pitched brilliantly in his first four games. This, in turn, allowed Fausto Carmona to have a trouble start, but not press to get out of it because the rest of the rotation needed him to be the immediate ace. See, even rock solid players falter, no matter what position they play. When they do it's nice for them to know that not everything will fall to crap in the time it takes them to set things right.

Another good example of this is the Texas Rangers. When the Rangers lost out on bringing Cliff Lee back, most professional analysts, and myself believed that this club would stumble to keep up with the better rotations in the division, not to mention the rest of the American League. Not only have they kept up, they been spectacular so far. They have the second-best team ERA in the game, and they owe this to guys taking over roles they weren't usually accustomed to. C.J. Wilson has been a certified ace, Matthew Harrison has been wonderfully effective, Derrick Holland has kept his end up, and new starter Alexi Ogando has been dynamite, pitching to a 2.33 ERA so far. The Rangers could soon have almost an embarrassment of riches as Brandon Webb is set for an impending return, as is Tommy Hunter who was very good last year. Texas will have the luxury of possibly easing Webb into a spot-starter role, or sending Ogando back to his normal eighth-inning role. Should Hunter or Webb falter, then Ogando will have had the experience and workload already, and can step back into the starting role.

We haven't even mentioned the more well known and established rotations in the league. The Phillies' Phantastic Phour as been just that, with only Lee and Cole Hamels having some minor hang-ups so far. The San Francisco Giants' two aces Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have both been unstoppable, even if rookie Madison Bumgarner has been getting smacked around a bit. The Angels' and Padres' staffs been great so far, and with the Angels keeping up the hitting, they've vaulted back into the AL West discussion rather quickly. Seattle has reason to hope as human giant Michael Pineda looks to be a dominate number two guy behind Felix Hernandez. Even the Milwaukee Brewers are keeping pace with everyone else, while Zach Greinke is still riding the pine.

Injuries always pop up though, and this year in particular looks like it might impact pitching staffs incredibly. As mentioned previously, Phil Hughes is out for some time, which means C.C. Sabathia has no room for error in the Bronx. Barry Zito being hurt for the Giants could add stress for Bumgarner to right his ship. Meanwhile Johnny Cueto needs to come back healthy, and soon, as Cincinnati has had to scores lots to overcome the bad pitching of Edison Volquez, Travis Wood, and Mike Leake. And now Leake was just arrested for shoplifting, so who the freak knows what that will do to the rotation.

So even when things are looking bright, the rug can be swept from under a team's feet rather quickly. Look no further than St. Louis and Adam Wainwright's injury to see that. The Cardinals are doing a great job offensively to make up the difference, but can that last a whole season? When a pitching staff is beleaguered, the offense has to take things over, and vice versa. Success in pitching, and hitting too, is infectious. It takes every guy involved to keep the whole thing moving. If one piece falls due to inability, illness or incarceration, then everything else is effected. So far this year, there have been some great rotations giving us quite a show. I hope that trend continues. Oh, and fear the beard.