Tigers have 4th worst pitching staff in AL?

[ElectricMayhem]

SI.com gives Jon Weisman actual money for this?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_weisman/12/21/al.rotations/index.html

He ranks the AL pitching staffs. The only teams he ranks worse than the Tigers:

Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers

He uses a ratings system a 3rd grader could have come up with:

[ajaX82]

Yea, his rankings suck. I would rank us as follows:

Elite (4): Verlander (how is he not elite?)

Above Average (3): Bonderman (Almost always solid, ill ignore second half)

Above Average to Average(2): Willis, Rogers (Willis would be AA, but just cant be after last season. Could be elite if goes back to old form. Kenny always solid)

Mystery (1): Robertson (not really a mystery, just not that great. im prolly being harsh)

That gives us 12 points, tied for seventh. Better but still wildly incorrect. His rankings system is rediculous, Tampa Bay has 12 pitchers listed; we have 7.

whatever

[Snakebites]

Willis, Rogers, and Robertson are very large wildcards for you guys right now.

Its not clear how effective Rogers will be at his age, Robertson could be solid or pretty bad, he's inconsistent.

And Willis could be your second best pitcher or barely fit to start, theres no way of telling.

Bonderman will be solid but not elite.

And Verlander is terrific. Any team would want him.

I doubt the Tigers are fourth worst, but its tough to tell exactly where they fall. A lot of uncertainty there.

[cochiseuofm]

Verlander is def. an elite pitcher. Especially if he puts Scott Kazmir there. I agree that Bondo is a mystery. He can be a terrific pitcher but he also goes on stretches where he just falls of the wagon. You would expect more consistency out of him by this point in his career.

I think Bondo, Kenny, and Willis all belong in the above-average category right now. All of them could easily be elite or above-average pitchers for us. But you don't know what you're going to get out of any of them right now.

Robertson and Durbin should both be mysteries. Durbin catches a lot of flack but I remember him having some nice games and holding up a rotation spot while injuries ravaged our team.

I don't think we're fourth worst at all. Verlander is better than anyone the Yankees have right now and yet they get points simply for having prospects like Kennedy, who has yet to spend serious time in the majors, and Chamberlain, good but they use him in the bullpen right now.

He should have taken the five best starters on the team, i.e. the projected rotation, and rated them alone. Then add on the depth as a bonus point or two. And he should have rated based on experience and stats...not based on his own impressions of the players.

And he also should have waited until the offseason is over. The Orioles could easily not have their best pitcher, Bedard, come April.

[ctabaczy]

if bonderman and rodgers produce we should have the 4th best pitiching staff

[vinny]

I don't know about 4th worst but some of you guys are seriously overrating our staff, going with the best case scenario for everybody. I hope it works out that way as much as you guys do but there are so many question marks around our staff that that may be too much to ask for.

Verlander is obviously the surest thing of the bunch and I have no problem ranking him as elite.

Bondo still hasn't put it together and regressed down the stretch (likely due to injury). Is it too much to ask for him to be fully healthy and put it all together finally this year? he's my favorite Tiger pitcher but let's not forget that he still hasn't had an era under 4.

Dontrelle was sick in 05 but last year he was probably one of the worst full time starters in the game. Can he put it back together switching to the DH league? Again, I hope so, but it's no sure thing. At the least I think he'll be great his first few times through the league until AL hitters get used to his deceptive deliveries but after that it's anybody's guess.

Kenny had what, ten starts last year? I love him but 43 year olds coming off injury plagued seasons can hardly be considered sure things. If he can give us 25 average starts and be healthy for the playoffs I'll be happy.

Nate is what he is, a league average 5th starter. I'd rather have him than most other 5th starters but he's not exactly a worldbeater.

And our bullpen is shaky as ever. Todd Jones is a human Roller Coaster, Zumaya is a giant question mark as to when/if he'll be healthy and outside of Rodney the rest of the guys aren't scaring too many. Rodney may well be our best reliever if he can keep throwing his fastball for strikes to set up his change.

Throw in Cabrera's d over Inge's at third and I can't get too hopeful.

Yeah, fourth worst was probably a bit harsh but can you really make too much of a case for us being much higher than 8th or 9th? We could be the best in the league, but that's if everything falls just right. We may have the most potential but that means nothing when the games start counting.

[What4]

wait and see the tigers, red sox, padres, and diamondbacks will have the best pitching staffs this year

the tigers have 3 guys who have the talent to win 20 this year verlander bonderman and willis

1 guy who might get to 15 rogers

and another who if he is lucky gets to 10 and somehow is still here cuz he chews gum robertson

[Jakespeare]

I'd say the fact that he ranked Verlander as "above average" takes away any credibility.

[pistons773]

Our starting pitching is definitely better than 4th worst, though they all have tendencies to struggle, including Verlander. I'm not sure who is left standing in our bullpen that even ranks average right now. We definitely need Rodney and Zumaya back. Would be nice to shop some better option for middle relief or closer. Grilli clearly isn't it. The Boston opener was pretty shameful. He took a half hour to pitch a terrible inning...by the end, he seemed afraid to throw a damn pitch at all.