RockiesMagicNumber sifted through hundreds of statistics and evaluated Jason Hammel against all MLB #4 and #5 starters this season (as defined by Baseball Reference) over 9 different statistics.

The conclusion? Hammel was the best #4 starter in MLB. Tommy Hanson and Jeff Niemann edge him in the race for the best #5...

www.purplerow.com/2009/10/21/1093887/jason-hammel-the-man-the-myth-the

This man deserves a rotation spot

He is good. Bound to be better.

Hammel is like the Jason Hirsch that we expected him to be. So a very nice replacement and he should be given the first shot at #4 or #5. If he is the best #4 or #5 then that reduces our urgency to sign a top shelf SP.

Dude as always dig on your analysis, spot on man. In your post on purplerow you intimate that the Rockies will be pursuing Halladay, I handnt heard anything on this am I totally out of the loop on something? Anyways if you get a chance let us know what you know about this, because a rotation like Hallady, Jimenez, Cook, DLR, and Hammel would be a great Christmans gift.

0% chance of having Halladay on this team. Ever. He has one year left on his contract and has stated publicly that he will become a free agent. And Jimenez is the first guy they ask for. Don't want to trade Ubaldo? ok Fowler,Cargo, Gomez and a top pitching prospect for a one year rental at 15.75 million. Pass

Dude, that's why I was replying to him, maybe he was just being sarcastic I dont know and all the points you make are sound and pretty much common knowledge although I tend to think they might be swayed with a different package but it's really a moot point if theyre not going to pursue him but posidian is usally very well informed hence my question to him. I wonder if knows something we dont or if it's just wishful thinking.

RockiesMagicNumber wrote that article, not Poseidon (though, of course, the Poseidon writes there too).

And yes, his Halladay comment was sarcasm.

Thanks for the clarification Wolf, I have a seriously slow computer and meant to go back and confirm who had written that my bad, I'll go back and revisit it I'm usually much more apt at picking up sarcasm I must be slipping. Anywas it will be interesting to see where he winds up.

That's very funny. I had mentioned the Jason Hammel/Hirsh comparison myself a couple weeks ago. High five.

Unfortunately, I didn't write that article. I had been intending to, as I had hypothesized a similar result from his study, I just was a little slow in picking the methodology of analysis. RMN tends to be fairly like-minded with me, so I'm not surprised he usurped me.

Halladay will never come here, but I'm not sure we really need him to. Considering park factors, the Rockies' rotation was one of the best in the game. Sure, it didn't have a Cliff Lee or Zach Greinke on it, but there's a lot of regular season value to having Jason Hammel every fifth day rather than...Yusmeiro Petit

Thanks man, sorry about that I got all excited about that article and took it too literally, still though it was a very strong piece and in my excitement I didnt pick up on his sarcasm. But the fact still remains that the Rockies organization is repleat with strong arms and the scouting staff has been doing a tremendous job in finding guys like Hammel and the like so I'm not too concerned I seriously feel that pitching will soon be this teams calling card and when that happens teams will be looking to us for pitching and not the other way around. Hopefully next year we'll be talking about Ubaldo in the same category as Lee, Greinke, Halladay and so on.

This supports your assessment in a ridiculous way.

Strikeouts / Base On Balls
Rank-Player---------------SO/BB------ Year
1. Jason Hammel...........3.167...........2009
2. Marvin Freeman.........2.913...........1994
3. John Thomson............2.815...........2002
4. Pedro Astacio.............2.800...........1999
5. Jeff Francis................2.619...........2007
6. Pedro Astacio.............2.506..........2000
7. Pedro Astacio............2.500...........2001
8. Ubaldo Jimenez.........2.329...........2009
9. Jorge de la Rosa........2.325...........2009
10. Denny Neagle............2.317...........2001