Best rotations in the MLB thread discussion

There are many talented rotations in the MLB. I'm going to go through each of the best rotations that baseball has to offer. I'll be looking at two rotations from each division. The Yankees will not be in it because I think we all know about our rotation. We don't really have a set one yet either. So sit back and see what top rotations we might see this season. (regular season, playoffs):

Boston Red Sox :

I figured since they're our biggest rival and in our division, we'd start out with the Sox. They have a lot of talent in there: Jon Lester being their lefty ace and young Clay Buchholz coming off a nice year. They also have some veterans in Josh Beckett and John Lackey. Their main concern in Daisuke Matsuzaka. Overall, the Red Sox have one of the best rotations in the league. The bullpen may not be their strong point, but that's for another time. 

Lester is now a Cy Young candidate entering 2011. Over his past 3 seasons, Lester has had a WAR over 5.0. He strikes out a lot of guys and leaves the majority of his base-runners stranded. His GB% is 53.6% and his FB% is 29.6%. It's a key for Lester to get a lot of ground balls, and to have less fly balls in a hitter's park like Fenway. Lester's ERA was 3.25 last year and he had a 3.13 FIP. He should have another year like 2010, unfortunately for Yankee fans. 

I'll also take a look at Clay Buchholz. He had a very lucky 2010 in my eyes. His FIP was a full run over his ERA. Plus he had a LOB% close to 80%. While he had a great 2010 in the eyes of people who don't look at these numbers, it will show that he will regress in 2011 (unless he truly pitches out of his mind for an entire year). That won't happen, even though projection sites are predicting a 3.60 ERA which isn't bad at all. But there is no way a Red Sox pitcher other than Lester can win the Cy Young. 

The whole rotation: Lester, Buchholz, Lackey, Beckett, Matsuzaka 

Tampa Bay Rays - 

Our next rotation round up is the Rays, which is arguably the best rotation in the American League. It's filled with young healthy arms. The Rays lost some offensive power, but if their pitchers live up to expectations they won't have a problem keeping up with the Yankees and Red Sox at the top of the East. David Price had a Cy Young caliber season. The Rays lost Matt Garza, but that shouldn't be a problem because young Jeremy Hellickson should be good to go. Jeff Niemann, Big Game James Shields, and the second year man Wade Davis are also ready to go. It's a very young rotation, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them keeping up with the two powerhouses. After all, they are the defending AL East Champions. 

Price had a similar problem as Buchholz, where his ERA (2.72) was a lot lower than his FIP (3.42). I see Price as a more talented pitcher though. Price strikes out about two more batters a game than Buchholz and walks less. He also induces more ground balls. His WHIP was 1.19 and his WAR was 4.3. Price should improve in 2011. 

Replacing Matt Garza with Jeremy Hellickson might work. Garza was only a 1.8 WAR pitcher, so maybe the Rays can find that 1.8 WAR from Hellickson and a better David Price, or another player. In Hellickson's 36.1 innings, pitched he posted a 3.47 ERA. Not bad for a rookie. He stranded 80% of his base-runners, but that's a small sample size. His K/9 was 8 and his BB/9 was a little under 2. He had a good WHIP of 1.10. Half of his balls in play were fly balls. 

Watch out for the young arms in the Rays rotation. 

The whole rotation: Price, Shields, Niemann, Davis, Hellickson

EDIT 

When I thought about it, it's better for us to discuss the best rotations in a single thread. And without me having to spew stats we could just discuss it in this thread. 

My top rotations from each division go as follows. 

AL East - Rays, Red Sox , Yankees, Jays, O's

AL Central - Tigers, White Sox, Twins, Indians, Royals (tough ranking these)

AL West - A's, Angels, Rangers, Mariners

Another tough one because the Mariners have arguably have the best American League pitcher, and yet the rest of their rotation is questionable. The A's have a strong five of Anderson, Cahill, Gonzalez, Braden, and Harden. The Rangers lost Lee, but still have CJ Wilson and other guys that looked good last year. The Halo's have Haren, but I'm a little confused if they have a solid #2. 

NL East - Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Mets, Nationals

NL Central - Brewers, Reds, Cardinals, Cubs, Astros, Pirates (blame Wainwright's injury)

NL West - Giants, Rockies, Padres, Dodgers, Diamondbacks

Not sure if you switch the Padres with the Rockies, but it's debatable.