Cliff Lee (33)
W – 19
ERA – 2.75
WHIP – 1.00
K/9 – 8.8
Cliff Lee is perhaps the most efficient starter in baseball. He used his fastball 10% less in 2011 as he used his curve, cutter, and change more… which seemed to be more effective. His 81.4% LOB% will drive his ERA up a bit in 2012, but everything else is sustainable… including his close to 9 K/9, which looked like an outlier compared to his previous seasons until you factor in that lefties changing leagues from the AL to the NL experience an uptick of 0.5-1.2 K/9. I wouldn’t say he’s a “hard-throwing” lefty to get the full +1.2 K/9, but he’s far from league average (+0.5) too… so let’s say his baseline is 7.8 K/9 and he gets +1 K/9… so call it 8.8 K/9.