Benefit of Cain as the #3 Starter

Unlike most rotations in baseball, the San Francisco Giants have their two best pitchers, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, not #1 and #2 in the pitching rotation. Looking across baseball, the Giants are in a unique situation. The Cardinals, Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox all have their two best pitchers at the top of the rotation.

The simplest reason for splitting up Cain and Lincecum in the rotation is because they have two left-handed pitchers in the rotation. You never want to have two left-handers start back-to-back games. Left handed starting pitchers are unique, and pitching them on consecutive games will cause them to lose their advantage. It's just a rule in baseball that you avoid starting two lefties in a row. Todd Wellemeyer is an obvious #5 pitcher, and should not be moved up to the #4 slot just so Timmy, and Cain can pitch after each other.

Trying to look deeper at the situation, there are many benefits. For example, in any series the Giants play, their opponent will have to face one of these elite pitchers. An opposing team can not get a lucky break, and avoid facing Lincecum or Cain. It essentially guarantees that the Giants will have a chance to win at least one game every series. Of course this applies to a normal three game series. Although Zito has turned into an excellent performer dating back to the all-star break last season, there is a reason he has never won more than 10 games in a Giant uniform. Despite the talent of Jonathon Sanchez, he is still not reliable. It's important to remember that he was sent to the bullpen after his horrible first half of the season last year, and only got the opportunity to shine by throwing his no-hitter because of an injury to Randy Johnson.

Another benefit of Matt Cain being the third starting pitcher in the rotation is the fact that starters don't always match up. I mean #1 starters do not only pitch against other #1's, and so on. An excellent example is in the Giants first loss of the season. Todd Wellemeyer, the Giants number 5 starter, pitched against Derek Lowe, the Atlanta Braves number 1 starter. This gave the Braves a huge advantage. So coming back to the point of Matt Cain, instead of pitching second in the rotation where he will mostly face top pitchers on opposing ballclubs, he will pitch mostly against middle of the rotation pitchers. This in turn, will give the Giants a huge advantage.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe Jonathon Sanchez and Barry Zito will help the Giants win this season, but it's also important to keep reality in check. Barry Zito is notorious for starting slow, and this season has been opposite. He should easily surpass his win total, and lower his ERA compared to his previous Giants season. Sanchez is poised for a breakout year with double-digit wins, and an incredible strikeout total.