Fantasy Baseball Dugout

The upcoming free agency period makes ranking starting pitchers heading into 2009 tough.

Why? Because if we knew exactly where C.C. Sabathia was going to be playing next season, we could rank him accordingly. Our gut instinct is rank C.C. the no. 1 pitcher heading into next year’s fantasy baseball draft. Until he signs a contract, we can’t rank him that high, however.

While we love C.C. and look forward to learning where he will be pitching in 2009, Johan Santana of the New York Mets heads into 2009 as our top starting pitcher. Santana had a nice season despite getting limited run support in stretches of the season. He finished 2008 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA, 206 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.15 in 234.3 innings.

Sabathia led the league in innings pitched, logging 253 innings for the Indians and Brewers. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians tied for the most wins last season with 22. Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants struck out 265 batters to lead all pitchers. Rich Harden of the Chicago Cubs led all starters with a 2.07 ERA and 1.06 WHIP.

There are a wide variety of quality starting pitchers to consider in 2009, below are our Top 75. E-mail webmaster [at] fantasybaseballdugout [dot] com if you think we got something wrong.

1. Johan Santana, New York Mets
2. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
3. C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees
4. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
5. Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies
7. Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres
8. Rich Harden, Chicago Cubs
9. Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks
10. Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
11. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox
12. Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox
13. Ben Sheets, FREE AGENT
14. John Lackey, Anaheim Angels
15. Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs
16. John Lester, Boston Red Sox
17. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros
18. Chien Ming Wang, New York Yankees
19. James Shields, Tampa Bay Rays
20. Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati Reds
21. A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees
22. Erik Bedard, Seattle Mariners
23. John Maine, New York Mets
24. Justin Duchscherer, Oakland Athletics
25. Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays
26. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
27. Chad Billingsley, Los Angeles Dodgers
28. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
29. Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees
30. Chris Y. Young, San Diego Padres
31. Ted Lilly, Chicago Cubs
32. Ervin Santana, Anaheim Angels
33. Ricky Nolasco, Florida Marlins
34. Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs
35. Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves
36. Scott Baker, Minnesota Twins
37. John Danks, Chicago White Sox
38. Andy Pettitte, FREE AGENT
39. Kevin Slowey, Minnesota Twins
40. Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
41. Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays
42. Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians
43. Aaron Harang, Cincinnati Reds
44. Mike Mussina, New York Yankees
45. Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
46. Shaun Marcum, Toronto Blue Jays
47. Todd Wellemeyer, St. Louis Cardinals
48. Gavin Floyd, Chicago White Sox
49. Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
50. Armando Galaragga, Detroit Tigers
51. Joe Saunders, Anaheim Angels
52. Max Scherzer, Arizona Diamondbacks
53. Hideki Kuroda, Los Angeles Dodgers
54. Brandon Morrow, Seattle Mariners
55. Pedro Martinez, FREE AGENT
56. Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins
57. Randy Johnson, San Francisco Giants
58. Jered Weaver, Anaheim Angels
59. Kyle Lohse, St. Louis Cardinals
60. Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox
61. Paul Maholm, Pittsburgh Pirates
62. Gil Meche, Kansas City Royals
63. Dustin McGowan, Toronto Blue Jays
64. Aaron Cook, Colorado Rockies
65. Javier Vazquez, Atlanta Braves
66. Dave Bush, Milwaukee Brewers
67. Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds
68. Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles
69. Wandy Rodriguez, Houston Astros
70. Chris Volstad, Florida Marlins
71. Jesse Litsch, Toronto Blue Jays

Check out our other 2009 fantasy baseball rankings:
Catcher | First Base | Second Base | Third Base | Shortstop | Outfield
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