The opening pitching matchup for the Pirates this year is Chad Kuhl vs. Kyle Hendricks. Opening day is reserved for each team’s best pitcher (barring injury), but don’t misconstrue that as the game’s best 30 pitchers.
If we’re being objective, Kuhl ranks somewhere towards the middle of the league’s starters. Hendricks is a consistent 3-5 WAR pitcher. Both are good guys to have in a rotation. Maybe not to lead, or be the team’s ace, but good hands in a five man lineup.
Maybe the real takeaway is that any debate of who is an “ace” or how many there are in baseball really doesn’t matter.
There are always going to be X amount of good pitchers, really good pitchers and those who are legitimately on a path to either a Cy Young or the Hall of Fame. To split hairs and say that the only truly aces are guys like Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber and Clayton Kershaw, rather than extend the moniker to All-Stars or anyone who gets a down ballot Cy Young vote.
Because teams know that regardless of how good an ace is, they can only take the ball once every five days.
One pitcher can bolster a rotation, but no serious contender – outside of possibly the Yankees, depending on how you feel about the health of Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber – is relying on just one starter to lead a staff. The Padres went so far to acquire Joe Musgrove this offseason to be their fourth starter. He was the Pirates’ opening day starter last year.
Remember when the Diamondbacks tried to fix their rotation by making a huge splash on Zack Greinke? It didn’t work out, through no real fault of Greinke. They just didn’t have the pitching depth, and a potential World Series-caliber window of opportunity turned into just a couple wild-card berths.
Are “aces” going away? No. There are always going to be great pitchers. But teams know it’s about the rotation, and not if someone has the title of a true ace.
YOUR TURN: Does a rotation need an ace to be good?