As I was listening to the Tigers game on the radio today, I found myself contemplating a hypothetical situation. Imagine that all of Major League Baseball had disbanded, and there was going to be a new draft with all current players available. You have the first pick in the draft, but you have to pick between the following players: Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Josh Johnson, Zach Greinke, Stephen Strasburg or Tim Lincecum. For the sake of argument, their salary is not a factor. Which young gun would you select to be the ace of your franchise?
My rankings are as follows…
1. Justin Verlander-Without a doubt, Verlander has proven that he deserves to be the ace of the Tigers rotation which has been in constant contention since his rookie year in 2006 in which he got his first (and only taste) of the postseason. He has proven to be durable, has big game experience, and seems to be a likable person within the organization. Although my number two selection comes close, I give Verlander the edge due to playoff experience and his no hitter.
2. Felix Hernandez-Unquestionably a force to be reckoned with, Hernandez should find himself to be a constant Cy Young candidate for as long as he can stay healthy. It’s hard to imagine that Hernandez will spend his entire career in Seattle, where he would have had plenty more wins if he had more run support. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you’d be wrong picking King Felix, but I don’t think he’s had enough ‘big game’ experience yet.
3. Tim Lincecum-Maybe the hardest pick for me was putting Lincecum at number three, but it’s due to a couple issues. The first is that although he is unquestionably talented, I’d be very curious how his numbers would look if he pitched in the American League. With two Cy Young awards and a World Series ring, you could make a strong argument that he should be either number two or one on this list, and I would no doubt have a hard time to discredit that. However, for the sake of debate, I would rather have Verlander or Hernandez before him. Lincecum is also only entering his fifth year in Major League Baseball, so I’d like someone with a little more experience.
4. Josh Johnson-Not sure how you can’t like what you see with Johnson. He’s big, and he throws hard. Similar to Hernandez, you wonder what his numbers would be like if he played for a legitimate contender, but even without that, his numbers have been impressive so far. I would pick him higher, but I’d like him to have another year or two under his belt before I’d consider him before Verlander or Hernandez.
5. Stephen Strasburg-Strasburg lived up to expectations in his brief stint with the Nationals in 2010, but obvious health concerns make selecting him difficult. If he can prove he can get back to even 90 percent of what he was before Tommy John surgery, Strasburg should have no problem dominating lineups for years to come.
6. Zach Greinke-Despite his success, I think Greinke has still flown relatively under the radar. Depending where this fantasy franchise would be based out of, I’d be more likely to take him in a smaller market team. It would be very interesting to see how Greinke would do playing for a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, but then again I think all of these pitchers would get a few extra wins each year playing for either of those teams.
Don’t get me wrong, it’d be hard to turn down any of these players with the first pick, as a strong case could be made for all of them. Thankfully I don’t think I’ll have to ever worry about making a decision like this in my lifetime.
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