March 19, 2008

Starters

Newark's Randy Johnson is returning for another season in the Brick City and it should be a big one for The Big Unit. He's four starts from becoming the fourth pitcher in league history to start 400 games. He'll continue adding to his record 3,054 strikeouts.

One of Johnson's newest teammates is another longtime DMBL star looking to continue accumulating stats. Roger Clemens needs 15 starts to reach 450 for his career while he's just 89 innings from becoming the second pitcher to reach 3,000. The all-time leader in strikeouts, Johnson also needs two wins to match Clemens (203) for third all-time and six to reach Pedro Martinez (207) at No. 2.

If he can remain in Vancouver's rotation, Greg Maddux has a good shot at overtaking Tom Glavine, who was cut in spring training by Arkansas, for most starts all-time. He begins the season just 9 behind Glavine (455). Maddux also finished '07 just one complete game short of becoming the first pitcher with 100 complete games.

Curt Schilling of Arkansas is 21 starts from passing teammate Pedro Martinez (387), who's rehabbing this season, and cracking the top five in starts. With his first start of the season, Newark's John Smoltz will have sole possession of 10th on the all-time starts list. He's currently tied with Al Leiter for No. 10, and needs just 7 starts to pass David Wells into the 9th slot. Smoltz is 120 1/3 innings from moving past Kevin Brown (2,372 1/3) for No. 8 all-time.

Some of the DMBL's young guns will become elder statesmen this season. Carolina's Double-H combo of Tim Hudson and Roy Halladay both expect to vault into the top 10 all-time in games started. Hudson begins the year tied with Brad Radke (228) at No. 21 and expects to pass Freddy Garcia (237), Hideo Nomo (239) and Kenny Rogers (247) before becoming the 18th pitcher to make 250 career starts. Halladay begins the season 24th on the list, and will pass Chuck Finley (227) before overtaking Radke and the others.

The H&H boys probably will be linked throughout the season, as both also will move up the innings pitched list. Hudson begins 2008 at No. 20 all-time (1,513 2/3), less than 22 innings ahead of Halladay at No. 21 (1,492). Barring injury, they're likely to pass Kenny Rogers, Brad Radke, Andy Benes, David Cone, Jason Schmidt, Bartolo Colon and Andy Pettitte this year. That would put the two closer to Al Leiter at No. 12 (1,825 1/3).

The dynamic duo probably will be the only pitchers to crack the career 100-win mark during this season. Hudson begins '08 just four wins behind Halladay, who needs six wins to reach 100 and could pass more second-tier starters during 2008. Three wins for Halladay will match Al Leither (97) for 14th all-time, seven to reach Radke (101), nine to get to Andy Pettitte (103), and 11 to match Kevin Appier (107). David Cone (109) at No. 10 is not out of reach.

After that, it'll be a stretch before getting in the neighborhood of No. 9 John Smoltz (160). Newark's ace, Smoltz needs one win to match Mike Mussina (161), and likely will pass Kevin Brown (169) and Tom Glavine (170) and move into 6th all-time.

Further up the list is Curt Schilling of Arkansas (192), who's eight wins from becoming the fifth pitcher with 200. He also looks to become the fourth pitcher with 2,500 strikeouts, needing just 81. It could be just a few starts before Maddux gets the 11 Ks he needs to become the 6th pitcher with 2,000 career strikeouts.

Roy Oswalt, the longtime ace of the Honolulu Sharks, now is the leader of the Blue Ridge rotation. He can plan to make the 200th start of his career early in the season, starting at 191, and move into the top 30, after passing Wilson Alvarez (201). He also could surpass Juan Guzman (213), Jamie Moyer (218) and Mike Hampton (222) before the year is out.

It's anyone's guess who will be the next pitcher to 1,000 strikeouts, but for sure, there will be plenty of names from which to choose. Halladay begins the year with an even M, and the next pitcher will be the 25th to reach the mark. Freddy Garcia (994) needs to latch on to a team and make one good start and reliever Troy Percival (978), drafted by Vancouver after a few years away from the game, should continue to push his K record for relievers, though Trevor Hoffman (946) is not far behind.

Hudson (953) and Oswalt (956), separated by just three strikeouts, both should join the 1,000-K club, along with Carolina's Barry Zito (940). It's not out of the question for Vegas starters AJ Burnett (850) and Orlando Hernandez (852) to get to four digits either.

Closers

Francisco Rodriguez, traded in the offseason from Philly to Vegas, is 26 saves from 100; he would be the 11th reliever to reach the century mark, and could pass eight other closers in the process.

Longtime Iron Fister Billy Wagner is 42 saves from joining Mariano Rivera as the only closers with 300. As Wagner's setup man, Percival will be hard pressed to get the 17 saves he needs to get to 200. Rivera is 38 from reaching 350 and also needs 15 appearances to become the first pitcher have 800.

Trevor Hoffman, whose save totals have declined since becoming Rivera's setup man the last few years in Marietta, has Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen hot on his heels. Izzy (154) begins the year just nine saves behind Hoffman (163) for fourth all-time and needs 29 to get to Percival at No. 3. A career-high 46 saves in '08 would be 200 for his career while 19 appearances would give him 500 and put Rick Aguilera (513) at No. 7 within striking distance

Hoffman is still No. 2 all-time in appearances and is 14 away from 700, and 14 ahead of Percival, who needs 28 to reach 700. Newark's Smoltz, who spent a few seasons in the bullpen but is now back in the rotation, would pass Robert Hernandez (557) for fourth all-time in appearances with 31 in 2008. Wagner is just 35 appearances behind Hernandez.

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