NYY Yanks starting rotation vs. BoSox starting rotation-who's is better?

Question

I am a fan of neither team but for arguments sake and to tame some of these Yankee fans, let's debate. I am of a strong opinion that good pitching beats good hitting. That said:
Mussina vs. Schilling-edge Boston.
Wang vs. Papelbon-edge Boston.
Petitte vs. Beckett-edge Boston.
Igawa vs. Dice-K- big edge Boston.
Krastens/Pavano vs Lester/ Wakefield-edge Boston.
Not even close IMO.

Ok-let me back it up. First off, I think Wang had a career year last year. Just a hunch. Let's look at the number:
Papelbon ERA-.092- K/BB 75/13 - WHIP .78
Wang ERA- 3.63- K/BB 76/52- WHIP 1.31
Of course since Wang started, he pitched 3 times as many innings. K's really stick out. Even if Papelbon's ERA goes up to 3.00-still better.

Igawa and Dice-K has even happened yet??? Not in MLB BUT they have still been pitching. DUH. 10 times better as the contract suggests.
I can see the debate for Petitte vs Beckett but I say Beckett on age alone-he is entering his PRIME. He is 26.
Schilling is too injury prone?? Yeah, I am the dumb one-he pitched more innings than Mussina last year. Schilling had the ankle thing a couple of years back but has been a workhorse his entire career. These two are close in talent and I am a fan of Mussina BUT Schilling is Mr.clutch come play-offs.

Oh yeah. As for Phillip Hughes. Yes. He is a highly rated prospect-so was Gavin Floyd. Mark Prior has had a hard time with injuries-another highly ranked guy (though I still think he will be good) Maybe someone you are more familiar with like BLUE-CHIP PROSPECT Carl Pavano. How's that working out for ya'??

Come on people. Igawa isn't even in the same ballpark as Dice-K. We don't have to wait and see. If Igawa does better, I'll eat my own knickers. Barring injury that is.

Answer 1

"Single season won-lost records have almost no value as an indicator of a pitcher's contribution to a team."- bill james

wang had an era close to 4.00 for most of the season. his K rates are really low, and his hits per inning were quite high. this indicates that he was very LUCKY last year, and will fall back down to earth this season. papelbon has much better stuff, and will outperform wang if he stays in the rotation(sox might move him back to the closers roll).

mussina vs schilling boston
pettitte vs beckett boston
wang vs matsuzaka boston
igawa vs papelbon boston
karstens/pavano/hughes vs wakefield/lester/buchholz boston

clearly the starting rotation is in bostons favor this year. now if clemens were to sign with the yankees it would change the dynamic. but he could also sign with boston, so don't get your hopes up yank fans!

Answer 2

The Next One, I agree with your choices except Schilling v. Mussina and Wang v. Papelbon. I agree that Wang was probably getting lucky last season but Papelbon, when starting in 2005, usually got to the fifth or sixth inning and then his control fell apart like clockwork. Through those five or six innings, I would give him the edge over Wang but with Boston's weak point being their bullpen, I would make this a tie.
Schilling seems to have injury problems and lacks consistency, sometimes, he pitches eight innings of shutout baseball while others, he lets up six runs in four innings. Mussina has shown to be almost unbreakable and is a model for consistency, I would give Mussina a big edge over Schilling. Still, Boston destroys the Yankee's pitching.

Answer 3

Yankees have the better pitching staff than Boston. I would give the Moose over Schilling since Schilling isn't getting any younger, and Schilling isn't a strikeout pitcher anymore. I would take Wang over Papelbon because Papelbon has yet to prove himself as a starter. It isn't easy for a closer to become a starter. I would take Pettitte over Beckett because Beckett tends to give up home runs. He was second in the league in that category last year. Pettitte also proved that he is a better big game pitcher than Beckett. I am not sure about Igawa and Dice-K since they have to prove themselves. Kartsens/Pavano vs Lester/Wakefield, I would give the slight edge to Wakefield because of experience. However, overall, the edge goes to the Yankees.

Answer 4

i'm a yankee fan, and i do give a slight edge to boston on this one...

1. schilling vs. mussina...slight adv boston, mussina is still pitching at a high level and is clearly the yanks ace, but schilling continues to prove that he is one of the best of his era

2. wang vs. papelbon...slight adv yanks, only because papelbon has not started a game since he was in the minor leagues

3. pettitte vs. beckett...adv push, as i think that pettitte's return to pinstripes will rejuvenate him and give one last push to the ending of his career...beckett is overrated in my opinion and walks way too many hitters/gives up way too many homers

4. igawa vs. dice-k...adv. impossible to tell because neither has pitched a game in the major leagues! in my opinion their numbers in japan could well be thrown into a paper shredder

5. pavano/hughes/whoever else vs. lester/wakefield...big edge boston, pavano was a waste of time and hughes has never started a major league game, lester isn't really any good but he is better than pavano, and wakefield is still effective no matter when he enters the game, he really should have gotten some legitimate consideration for the closer job, which is their biggest weakness

Answer 5

Mussina vs.Schilling_edge Mussina,,Schilling can barely walk he's hurt all the time,Mussina never on the DL
Wang vs.Papelbon-Edge Wang missed cy young award this yr by 2 votes,proven to be a Fantastic starter,,,,Papelbon a great closer,but already was on the Dl,Can he be a full time starter? or will Papelbomb Bomb out?
Pettitte vs Becket,, Pettitte has the balls to pitch in ny,,,I lost count
of all the homers Becket gave up last yr,Becket is Much younger then Pettite,But i'm giving this to Pettite,However both of these players were on the dl last yr
Igawa vs Dice-k---- Edge,,No one wins here it's a coin toss both have never pitched in the big leagues,Both have to prove themselfs
Krastens/Pavano vs Lester/Wakefield/ -edge Boston HOWEVER
with the exception of Wakefield,,Sorry buddy Ny has great # against Wakefield,He's old and we got his num! Pitched too many games in ny.Now Pavano!! could be our dark horse,however if he doesn;t deliver,and if any of our other starting pitchers go on the DL we will bring up two pitchers who are proven to be our future,,,,The next Roger Clemens,,Phil huges,,And Humberto Sanchez,,,As Espn put it!! The Ny Yankees are sitting pretty in the pitching Dept!! Who does the red sox have if any of their pitching BOMB out? So as i see it,,No buddy it's not even close!! Ny finally has their pitching problem sloved!!!! We have enough young arms to keep us going into the playoffs for the next 7 ys,,,see ya!! One more note Lester has battled cancer,he went through 1 yr of treatments(god bless him)
I respect him,,However it takes a good yr to get that poison out of your system,,Trust me a no alot of PPL that didn't get their strength back till about 1 yr after they had chemo,,but when he does come back he will be a force to be reckoned with,,he is one hell of a pitcher,,but not this yr,,,Trust me he will tire fast!!

Answer 6

First of all LET'S GO YANKEES!!!!!
Moose vs. Schilling - is probably the closest match-up of this discussion and hate to say I have a lot of respect for schilling. He has beat us up (2001, 2004) but Moose is money - PUSH.

Wang vs. Papelbon - HAHA...Wang is much more proven and battle tested for longer innings game wise. Papelbon is solid but can he keep it up for 5, 6, 7 innings? - YANKEES 1 - SOX 0

Petitte vs. Beckett - Just like Wang, Petitte is battle tested and is the guy you want on the mound other than Moose to finish a team out or extend a series. Beckett had success against us (2003) which is why they signed him last year....2003 we saw him basically in a short series (6 games) and without much success. Last year within the same division we OWNED HIM and Boston ate there sox. - YANKEES 2 - SOX 0

Igawa vs. Dice -K - Have no opinion, have'nt seen any of them pitch. I reserve my opinion till then - PUSH

Karstens/Pavano vs. Lester/Wakefield - Pavano has been snake bitten since his signing and Karstens is a toss-up. I respect Lester for all he has gone through and Wakefield is tough to hit off of for any team - YANKEES 2 - SOX 1

If I vote for Dice-K like all experts do, that would make the score even at 2-2.

TIEBREAKER...

Enter Sandman - Mariano Rivera...Discussion over!!!

Answer 7

well there will be debates about this, but papelbon is unproven as a starter so i give the edge to wang because he racks up wins, but doesnt have high strikeout rate. schilling gets hurt a lot so i give the edge to mussina. and i like pettitte better than beckett overall.

Answer 8

no question its the redsox of course the only legitt starter that i could think of on that yankee team is wang and mussina.for the redsox beckett will have a better season this year.even if he struggled last year he still managed to win at least 15 games.then we got the big new thing in MLB(dice-k) dnt 4get schilling of course,then papelbon who had a fantastic sesason last year as a rookie, we also have lester and a veteran pitcher like wakefield. i mean wat do u think of corse the redsox have a better rotation.

Answer 9

presently the Mets are at 20% and the crimson Sox at sixteen%. i in my opinion think of if Jason Schmidt is healthful that the Dodgers have the acceptable rotation in baseball. Brad Penny Derek Lowe Chad Billingsley Jason Schmidt Hiroki Kuroda between those 2 communities i could could say the crimson Sox have the greater valuable paintings tension. i'm going to even take Beckett and Matsuzaka over Santana and Martinez if asked the greater valuable a million and a pair of mixture.

Answer 10

I don't like either team and I'm tired of hearing about them

I would say the red sox have the pitching edge while new york has the offensive edge