All Indians team 1965-2016, pitchers

Back in the 50s the Indians had some great starting. From the 60s on, the pickings have been considerably slimmer. Some of the pitchers on this list made numerous stops along the way. Cleveland happened to be one of them. So, here goes:

Starting pitcher: Sam McDowell Sam McDowell was one of the first intimidating/dominating starters I remember. McDowell had great velocity and iffy control which made him a very uncomfortable at bat. Sam had a nice year in 1964, but was even better in 1965. Sam went 17-11 with a league leading ERA of 2.18. McDowell did that while leading the league in walks with 132. Sam also led the league in strike outs that season with 325. McDowell went on to lead the league in walks four more times. He also led the league in strikeouts four more times. McDowell spent 11 seasons with the Indians, compiling a record of122-109 with an ERA of 2.99. He also had a WAR of 42.3. The big 6'5” left hander was a force to be reckoned.

Stating pitcher: Luis Tiant Like Manny Ramirez, El Tiante started in Cleveland. Luis spent six years in Cleveland. In his fifth year with the Tribe, he had a great year, going 21-9 with an ERA 1.60. The following year he went 9-20, leading the league in losses. The stats surrounding that are interesting. His ERA was 3.71, which isn't that bad. He did, however, lead the league in walks and home runs allowed. Despite all that, he had a WAR of 3.2. Luis spent six years in Cleveland, finishing with a record of 75-64 with an ERA of 2.84. His WAR for those years was 26.1. Luis was good enough to make both this team and the Red Sox team.

Starting pitcher: Gaylord Perry Gaylord Perry and his saliva spent a little more than three years with the Indians and was very good. From 1972-74 Perry's win totals were 24-19-21. Those 24 wins led the league. Perry was traded to the Rangers during the 1975 season as part of his tour of major league cities. While in Cleveland Gaylord and the Spitter piled up a record of 70-57 with an ERA of 2.71. Those stats are attention getting, but his Wars for those three seasons help give some context. His WARs during that time were 11.0-7.9-8.6. His strikeout totals per 9 innings weren't that big. So how did he do it? Hmm.

Starting pitcher: Corey Kluber When Corey is on his game, his stuff is as good as about anybody in baseball. Corey has had two 18 game winning seasons. While he led the league in losses with 16 in 2015 his ERA was only 3.49. His WAR was 4.2. Not bad for a year when he led the league in losses. Kluber is working on another good year in 2017. Cheating a little bit and also counting 2017, his record is 65-47. Not bad, but his WAR of 22.6 tells a more complete story.

Starting pitcher: Sonny Siebert Back in the 60s, the Indians weren't a good team, but they did have some good starting pitchers. Sonny Siebert joined Sam McDowell and Luis Tiant to form a very good rotation. From 1965-68 Sonny went 54-38. His ERA was below 3.00 in all those seasons. Sonny gets this slot, though Mike Nagy and Orel Hershiser get a shout out.

Relief pitcher: Cody Allen: Cory Allen looks like the best reliever the Indians have had in the last 50 years, by a fairly wide margin. Cody Allen has strike out stuff where as Indians closers in the past, not so much. Indians all time saves leader, Bob Wickman didn't make this list, which is unusual for a team's all time saves leader. Right now Cody Allen has 109 saves while Wickman has 139. I think Allen passes him next season to become the Indians all rime saves leader.

Relief pitcher: Doug Jones From 1988-90 Doug put up save totals of 37-32-43. Doug did it without blowing guys away. His strikeouts per 9 innings for those three years was around 7 which is low for a closer, but his whip was around 1.2. For three years Doug did a nice job.

Relief pitcher: Jim Kearn Jim closed some games for the Indians from 1976-78. Kearns' stats don't jump out at you, but in the context of other Indians relievers. During his tenure in Cleveland he picked up 46 saves with an ERA of 3.44.

So there's my picks. There's room for discussion for sure. What's your take?