Nationals Arm Race

So, this image floated across my Facebook feed randomly the other day, and I was struck by it. I’ve seen these done elsewhere, but never for Baseball rotations. So, i’m in.

Build your rotation. $15 max spend. Here’s my “rules” for the competition:

• You have to pick 5 guys: you can’t pick three from the $5 line and say, “the rest are AAA starters”
• Consider each pitcher by their peak, not by their entire career. I say this because a few of these guys tailed off badly, or are more known for their longevity.
• Ignore the fact that some (one?) of these guys has PED associations. I guess that’s just a concern for Clemens. I didn’t end up picking him anyway.

OK here’s my team:

• $5 Sandy Koufax: no better stretch of dominance at the end of his career.
• $5 Pedro Martinez: he put up a 291 ERA+ season in the height of the PED era.
• $2 Bob Feller: that’s some serious value for $2
• $2 Curt Schilling. Twitter comments aside, he was a very good starter. Never won a Cy Young, losing out multiple times to his own teammates, else he’d be a no-brainer Hall of Famer.
• $1 Orel Hershiser. Best in the sport for a short amount of time, short enough to cost him the Hall. I’ll take that as my 5th starter.

Who you got?