Dating back to 1990, 27 of Major League Baseball's 30 franchises have had at least one starting pitcher win a Cy Young award. Which four aces' faces spring to mind when you try to create a Mount Rushmore of hurlers for each team, though? Here's some of what was considered in selecting each franchise's big four arms of the past three-plus decades: Beyond those criteria, it was really just a matter of deciding who added the most value while with the franchise and who (if still alive and not actively pitching) would be on the short list of people to call to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in the first home game of a World Series. All references to WAR (wins above replacement) come from FanGraphs, but WAR was far from the only data point considered.
Without further ado, let's carve some faces into rock, going alphabetically by franchise. Arizona's SP Mount Rushmore: Randy Johnson (1,623.1 IP, 117-62, 2.
84 ERA, 11.4 K/9, 54.1 WAR ) Brandon Webb (1,318.
2 IP, 87-62, 3.27 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 29.
6 WAR) Curt Schilling (780.2 IP, 58-28, 3.11 ERA, 10.
1 K/9, 25.0 WAR) Zac Gallen (741.0 IP, 47-34, 3.
33 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 15.0 WAR) Starting things off with a franchise with roots that don't even go all the way back to 1990, but with no shortage of solid candidates.
The big three of Johnson, Webb and Schilling are no-brainers. The Big Unit, in particular, was the easiest pick for any team in this entire exercise, reeling off four consecutive NL Cy Youngs from 1999-2002 and playing a massive role in.