Top 5 Starters in Baseball

Ditto for me, including being a St. Louisan. I hear all this love for Jimenez and Johnson for the NL Cy Young while Wainwright flies under the radar. BTW, he's thrown six shutout innings so far today.

 

I'm a Brewers fan, Wainwright is definitely up there. He was one of the first guys I thought of. I think he suffers from sharing a rotation with Carpenter who seems to get a little more face time, but I'd say he's the better pitcher.

Josh Johnson's ridiculous right now. Not saying he's top 5 right now, but if Yovani Gallardo can keep his pitch counts down as he's started to, he's going to be legit.

I've never seen a more dominant stretch than Sabathia's in 08 for us. Just an amazing stretch of performances he had for us, I think all Brewers fans will always hold CC close to their hearts.

 

I know his team sucks, but I'm surprised Felix Hernandez isn't getting any love. Could have easily won the Cy Young last year. And despite a 7-6 record this year (partially the result of a bad team, partially from a slow start in April and May) he's gone at least eight innings in nine of his last 11 starts, with five complete games. One start where he's allowed more than three runs since May 7, and a 2.13 ERA in that span.
Career-wise he's 65-47 and he's only 24.
He'd be in my top five right now, along with Halladay, Johnson, Lee and, I guess, Wainwright.

Lincecum gets left off because of this season's struggles, such as they are. He and Johnson were closer on the stat sheet last year than most people probably realize, and Johnson has taken a step forward this year while Lincecum has taken a small step back.
Jimenez has been great but has also been knocked around the last couple months. His career track also doesn't compare as well as those other four, so they get the nod.
Sabathia is a horse, but it seems like he can be hit from time to time. He gets edged out by Lee, who has been as good or better the last three seasons.

 

1. Halladay
2. Johnson
3. Hernandez
4. Wainwright
5. Lincecum

Johnson absolutely belongs over Jiminez. Neither was among the elite before this season, but Johnson has the lower ERA and WHIP and more strikeouts. He is also dominating now, while Jiminez is slowing down.

I am surprised by the lack of love for Felix Hernandez. He was the third-best pitcher in baseball last year behind Lincecum and Greinke and he has been better than both of those guys this season. I know the record is nothign special, but the Mariners don't score runs and their bullpen is shaky.

Edit: Batman beat me to the stuff about Hernandez. Have to disagree with him on Lincecum, though. He has been far too dominant coming into this season to be left off even with some struggles this year.

 

Yup. I might flip 2 and 3, but that's it.

 

Jimenez does not an elite track record and if you take the full season up to the moment into account, he is at best the No. 3 pitcher in the game for this season only. Let's see him actually put up elite numbers for an entire season.

 

OOP, I think Lincecum would be right there with Sabathia at Nos. 6 and 6A. No doubt he's got the track record, but so do the other five on my list. All have been outstanding for at least 2-3 years. They might not all have the hardware, but all of them have been at least on or near Lincecum's level in that span.
Lincecum's so-so 2010 season is enough to drop him just outside the top five. Barely.

 

I'm pretty infatuated with Lee right now. He pounds the strike zone, his K/BB ratio is ridiculous, and he not only eats innings, he takes them home in a doggie bag. He's a one-man bullpen saver.

One of these days, the Rangers will actually give him some run support.

 

Certainly don't want to disparage Felix Hernandez at all.
Just saying, Jered Weaver has outpitched Hernandez head-to-head three times this season.
Weaver (9-5, 3.16, co-leader with Hernandez in strikeouts) does not belong in this discussion.
Weaver has had 8 matchups against No. 1 starters this season. Actually, now it's nine since he is pitching against Cliff Lee tonight.

 

SoCalDude, it's kind of hard to judge Hernandez based that much on his head-to-head matchups with Weaver given that the Angels have a much better offensive team than the Mariners do.

Batman, I see your point, but none of those guys has the recent track record to match Lincecum. For example, Johnson really doesn't have a track record anywhere near that of Lincecum. In fact, Lincecum this year is better than Johnson had ever been before this season.

 

Halladay
Johnson
Lee
Felix
Wainright
Jimenez

 

I didn't think so either until I looked at their stats.
Lincecum in 2009: 15-7, 2.48 ERA, 4 CG, 261 K, 1.047 WHIP. Led the league in strikeouts and complete games and, of course, won the Cy Young.
Johnson in 2009: 15-5, 3.23 ERA, 191 K, 1.158 WHIP.

Lincecum in 2008: 18-5, 2.62 ERA, 265 K, 1.172 WHIP. Led the league in strikeouts and won the Cy Young.
Johnson in 2008: 7-1, 3.61 ERA, 77 K (in 87 innings), 1.351 WHIP

And, just to throw it out there...
Lincecum in 2010: 10-4, 3.18 ERA, 138 K (with an average of 9.5 K/9 and a 2.65 K/BB ratio, his lowest since 2007).
Johnson in 2010: 10-3, 1.62 ERA, 130 K (with an average of 9.1 K/9 and a 4.64 K/BB ratio, the best of his career).

Johnson was also 12-7 in 2006 before missing most of 2007-08 because of Tommy John surgery. He's 44-19 in his career, while Lincecum is 50-21. Johnson's rookie year was better than Lincecum's.
It really is closer than you think. Lincecum was much better in 2008 and a bit better last year, but the gap narrowed as Johnson regained whatever he lost from the injury. I think this year, at this point, Johnson is better. Lincecum is still damn good, but Johnson is a bit better.