Best 1-2 punch of staring pitching in MLB

[Chi_archie]

Over the past 5 years.....

can you beat Sale and Quintana in Chicago?

[Mr KLC]

Arrieta and Lester can give them a run for their money.

[Chi_archie]

Arrieta and Lester can give them a run for their money.

They've only been together for 1 1/4 seasons

i'm talking longer term consistency here

but even with the Sox top two and Cubs top two THIS year

fangraphs has Sale/Quintana at 3.6 combined WAR

fangraphs has Jake/Lester at 2.1 combined War

[Chi_archie]

closest competion this year is the PHillies Velasquez/Nola combo with a combined 2.9 WAR

[opie1988]

Will be Hamels & Darvish very soon.

[jt315]

Will be Hamels & Darvish very soon.

A team no one is talking about but will be once Darvish is back.
Some value on this team at 16-1 WS odds.
Holding their own without him and AJ Griffin's shoulder injury does not seem serious.

[BigDeem5]

Kluber

Salazar

[trobin31]

Couple others not mentioned

Degrom +Thor

Scherzer + Strasburg


Madbum + cueto/samardjz

[Chi_archie]

interesting list of LIFETIME WAR of Active pitchers

obviously most of these guys have been around a long time.

the only under 30 year old guys on this list....

Kershaw
Sale
Bumgarner
Quintana

Quintana in my mind is by far the most under-rated pitcher in MLB by a wide margin

1.	CC Sabathia (16, 35)	55.5	L
2.	Felix Hernandez (12, 30)	50.4	R
3.	Clayton Kershaw (9, 28)	49.6	L
4.	Zack Greinke (13, 32)	48.4	R
5.	Bartolo Colon (19, 43)	47.0	R
6.	Cole Hamels (11, 32)	45.9	L
7.	Justin Verlander (12, 33)	44.2	R
8.	Jake Peavy (15, 35)	37.7	R
9.	Jon Lester (11, 32)	37.2	L
10.	Jered Weaver (11, 33)	36.1	R
11.	Freddy Garcia (15, 39)	35.7	R
12.	John Lackey (14, 37)	34.9	R
13.	Adam Wainwright (11, 34)	32.5	R
14.	Max Scherzer (9, 31)	31.7	R
15.	Matt Cain (12, 31)	31.0	R
16.	James Shields (11, 34)	29.4	R
17.	David Price (9, 30)	28.8	L
18.	Chris Sale (7, 27)	28.7	L
19.	Johnny Cueto (9, 30)	27.3	R
20.	Francisco Rodriguez (15, 34)	23.9	R
21.	Jonathan Papelbon (12, 35)	23.8	R
22.	Anibal Sanchez (11, 32)	23.2	R
23.	Ubaldo Jimenez (11, 32)	22.6	R
24.	Scott Kazmir (12, 32)	22.5	L
25.	Jordan Zimmermann (8, 30)	22.4	R
26.	Madison Bumgarner (8, 26)	21.0	L
	John Danks (10, 31)	21.0	L
	Gio Gonzalez (9, 30)	21.0	L
29.	R.A. Dickey (14, 41)	20.4	R
30.	Yovani Gallardo (10, 30)	19.7	R
31.	Doug Fister (8, 32)	19.3	R
32.	Ervin Santana (12, 33)	18.7	R
33.	Jeremy Guthrie (12, 37)	18.3	R
34.	Chris Young (12, 37)	17.8	R
35.	Jose Quintana (5, 27)	17.4	L
36.	Jake Arrieta (7, 30)	17.2	R
37.	Francisco Liriano (11, 32)	17.1	L
38.	Gavin Floyd (13, 33)	17.0	R
39.	Joaquin Benoit (15, 38)	16.7	R
40.	C.J. Wilson (11, 35)	16.2	L

[d2bets]

Quintana is off to a great start this season. And he's a very good starting pitcher, but let's not get carried away. In his first 4 seasons - reliable, healthy and consistent. ERA every season between 3.32 and 3.76. That's consistently good, but not elite. I never heard of an elite pitcher without an ERA under 3.32. And I'll excuse the 38-35 record. Doesn't matter. And his WHIP 1.22 to 1.35 per season. Again good, but not elite status. He's a solid 2/3 guy.

Lester is in a fairly similar category to Quintana, probably a bit more accomplished and a notch higher, but not a lot different.

Arrieta vs. Sale? I don't know. I'd take Arrieta. But Sale is really good. 3.41 ERA for Sale last season.

Put it together and it's hard to deny that Arrieta/Lester > Sale/Quintana.

[Ghenghis Kahn]

out of the top 10, only kershaw, hamels, and lester can still pitch. rest are all banged up.

[POOLSIDE]

out of the top 10, only kershaw, hamels, and lester can still pitch. rest are all banged up.

Felix can't pitch anymore?

[Ghenghis Kahn]

Felix can't pitch anymore?

it's official he's no longer the king.

http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/players-talk/3141207-king-felix-no-longer-king.html

[LT Profits]

Mets Syndergaard/deGrom