Peter Gammons on healthy starting pitching

[TB_11]

In today's blog. Nothing very insightful, but he does mention the Cubs:

 

Then there are the Cubs. They were within two innings of the World Series in 2003, when their front five started 154 games and they needed but seven starters all season. Then in 2004, they slipped to 89-73 as they dropped to 137 starts from the front five, including 43 by Mark Prior and Kerry Wood combined. Last year, the Cubs fell below .500 as they got 124 starts from their projected top five -- a total of 37 by Prior and Wood. Oh yes, Greg Maddux has led them in starts the last two seasons. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened to us," says Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

 

Link, Insider account required

 

FWIW, here's how many starts the front four and five of the most recent World Series champions have had:

 

                         Starts by
Team                  Front 4     Front 5
2005 ChiSox             130         152
2004 Red Sox            128         157   
2003 Marlins            120         143
2002 Angels             122         140
2001 Diamondbacks       108         121
2000 Yankees            122         137
1999 Yankees            125         152
1998 Yankees            121         142
1997 Marlins            113         132
1996 Yankees            123         134

[goonys evil twin]

FYI, this was addressed in the Buster Olney thread, around page 4.

[TB_11]

Apologies. I avoided that thread as I'm not the biggest Olney fan. Mods feel free to lock

[Drew Doughty]

He said we "slipped to 89-73". We were 88-74 in 03.

 

The rest of the article is good though.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

He said we "slipped to 89-73". We were 88-74 in 03.

 

The rest of the article is good though.

 

That's what I was thinking.