Earlier this morning we looked at the top free agent hitters from this past offseason in terms of OPS+, and now it's time to look at the free agent pitchers using ERA+. Given the nature of their role, relievers are not included…
- Dustin Moseley, Padres – 1.63 ERA (217 ERA+) – It's not just Petco Park, Moseley has a 3.75 ERA in two starts at home and a 0.68 ERA in four starts on the road.
- Jorge de la Rosa, Rockies – 2.92 ERA (153 ERA+) – Several teams were interested in the southpaw, who re-upped in Colorado and continues to pitch well.
- Bartolo Colon, Yankees – 3.00 ERA (134 ERA+) – What's more surprising: that Colon has been this effective, or that he's still pumping 94 mph gas?
- Kevin Correia, Pirates – 2.91 ERA (134 ERA+) – Pittsburgh's Opening Day hurler has allowed two earned runs or less in five of his seven starts.
- Brandon McCarthy, Athletics – 3.05 ERA (137 ERA+) – He also has the fifth best K/BB ratio (4.50) in the American League.
- Bruce Chen, Royals – 3.59 ERA (109 ERA+) – Chen has finally found some staying power with his tenth big league club.
- Cliff Lee, Phillies – 3.69 ERA (105 ERA+) – The winter's big prize whiffed 16 Braves last night, already his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season.
- Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers – 3.69 ERA (100 ERA+) – Kuroda was a free agent but he never hit the open market; he agreed to re-sign with the Dodgers during the exclusive negotiating period.
It drops off quite a bit after that, Aaron Harang of the Padres is next on the list with an 81 ERA+ (4.37 ERA). Chris Young of the Mets has a 202 ERA+ (1.88 ERA), but he doesn't have enough innings to qualify for the league ERA title because he's spent some time on the disabled list.
Phil Humber has 137 ERA+, if you’re including minor league contracts.
Nevermind, thought he was free agent. He was waiver claim.
Definitely a good pickup, though. I almost wish the A’s had kept him, even though they never really had room.
His BABIP is ridiculously low, though. I believe he could be a good pitcher, but he has had the luck factor on his side thus far. However, he has been the best pitcher on the Sox in terms of production.
Oh, I definitely look for him to fall back to earth. But he’ll still have been a good acquisition. At the very least, he will have been a really good fill-in while Peavy was out.
Well, the Sox are planning on a 6 man rotation. Is it just me, or is that ridiculous?
Really? Hmm. Surely they aren’t planning on leaving it that way for long. It’s unusual to see a team do that unless it’s late in the season, and they’re out of contention (the A’s, for example, did it in late 2009 so they didn’t overwork their rookie starters). And the White Sox are still the Central favorites, in my opinion. I think I’d want to try moving a starter to the bullpen for a while if I were them. Especially with so many of their bullpen arms struggling right now.
It’s a shame that they are replacing him with Peavy… what more can a guy do?
I don’t even see Peavy pitching that well for them or staying healthy this year, total waste of money. Thankfully the prospect package they gave up was abysmal.
lol clayton richard won 14 games last year with a 3.75 era over 200+ innings
Clayton Richard would look pretty good right now filling in for Peavy, no? He’s a guy who can make lefty bats want to crawl in a hole (1 hr allowed vs Lefties last year). Really enjoy watching him pitch. He’s under control for 3 more years beyond this season. If he improves as he moves into his prime, would imagine bigpat would think his comment was off base. Maybe not.
I know the Padres are thrilled with the trade. They got a starter that has provided more then Peavy and they will have saved over 30m at years end, and even more after the following season. Yeah they didn’t get 3 future stars like the Indians did for Colon, but they still got a lot. I am still surprised they were able to deal him while he was on the DL and things didn’t look too rosey in SD. Thought they were going to be stuck with him, and that scared the hell out of me. The trade was viewed as a godsend to this Padre fan from day 1.
Chris Young has a 202 ERA+ for the Mets…
Yes he does, but only 24 IP because of injuries. Doesn’t qualify for the ERA title at the moment. I added him to the post though.
Ah, alright. I thought that might’ve been the reason.
Okay, offseason pool, who had Dustin Moseley?
unrelated to free agent signings but related to awesomeness, johnny venters’ ERA+ is 748
Weak.
Best set-up guy in baseball, ladies and gentlemen.
”
What’s more surprising: that Colon has been this effective, or that he’s still pumping 94 mph gas?”
*insert fat joke here*
you are so so so funny. And original. I mean wow, man.
Thanks. I appreciate that you think so highly of me.
Dustin Moseley is a BEAST!
Come August, Bartolo Colon will literally be pumping gas.
U mad?
Why would I be? My comment was a joke that he’ll probably be released by August. Sorry, but I don’t see a 38 year old who has had a string of arm problems the last few years keeping this up.
What about Freddy Garcia? His ERA+ is definitely above average.
Imagine de la Rosa in a Rangers uni right now. He would’ve been a perfect fit seeing as how he seems to handle small ballparks well enough.
Hey who knows how long Bartolo Colon can keep up what hes doing but I’ll take it while it lasts. Lets say he lasted all year and put up a 4-4.5 era I would definitely take it. 94-95 and that 2 seamer has nasty movement on it. It’s a shame about Chavez though.
Unless Bartolo is using the same miracle juice that Clemens and Pettite were using, I don’t expect him to last until the end of the season.
This guy is a joke. All you ever post is negative on the Yanks. Do you even have a fav team or just hate the yanks?
Someone call the wambulance.
There are 2 kind of baseball fans. True fans of the game and ones that love only one team and hate all others. What one are U? I love all baseball and don’t hate on any team. I wont waste my time making dumb comments about hate for any team or any player. All teams out there have ped users and if you think that is not true then you don’t understand baseball or any sport out there. But that is in the past so move on and enjoy the game for what it is right now. Maybe half the players on your fav team used peds in the late 90’s or early 2k. I don’t know and don’t care as I cant change it.But hate on if that what makes you happy and Sierra
Nice to see I have fans. I hope your enjoying my commentary.
little defensive?
Padres love to cash in on th scrap heap. Moseley, correaia etc
that’s because both weren’t used to pressure situations both being on teams before that, that had no chance of making the playoffs.
Berkman has been to the playoffs before.