Pitchers switching leagues

[junkieboy]

Im curious as to what people think about guys like clemens, pettite, and schilling switching leagues and the effects on their stats. The one thing that worries me as a schilling owner and interests me as a possible clemens owner is the fact that pitchers hit in the NL. For Schilling I think his K/IP may suffer having to face DH's instead of pitchers, but I still expect him to have a strong season. Clemens and pettitte interest me because while they pitch in a hitter friendly park, they may see their K/IP numbers go up beacue of pitching to opposing pitchers. Personally I don't like clemens but I can't look past the fact that he still strikeouts a decent amount of hitters and may top 230 K's this year if he stays healthy. Does anyone have any examples where an american league strikeout type pitcher moved to the NL? I know the obviuos is the big unit, but he's in his own universe.

[LBJackal]

I think the switch will negatively affect all 3 of the itchers you named. Clemens and Pettitte for obvious reasons, and Schilling because I think he relies on specific knowledge of each hitter he faces to know how to get them to miss at pitches. He has been known to have a log of every hitter he's ever faced, about how to pitch to them, strike them out, what NOT to throw, etc. He doesn't have this for the AL, and I think it's what made him really successful later in his career in Arizona. It's what set him apart from others. He'll no doubt be good, but I think he'll struggle a bit to start, but he should at least be better than last year. I wouldn't spend a first round pick on him like I would for Pedro, and I'd take Halladay before Curt, but he's just not a sure thing I don't think. He could be very good, and he could struggle. It's a gamble.

[esm]

The preceding points are all good. Two advantages of switching to the AL is that SPs pitch deeper into a game (no need to pinch hit for them) and therefore have more chance for their team to rally and get him the Win.

Secondly, while they have to learn the batters' weaknesses in their new league, that goes both ways. The hitters aren't familiar with the pitchers stuff either.