I like our starting rotation a little bit better than the 2014 one. Shields, Ace, Vargas, Guts, & Duffy had 93% of our starts that year. 949 innings and a 3.40 ERA. I'm not saying our ERA will be better, because the league Ave ERA for a starting pitcher has gone up each of the last 2 years.
However, I do feel we can be a ways better than the 2015 collection of Volkie, Ace, Duffy, Guts, CY, Cueto & Vargy...who started 92% of our games. They were at 4.19 in 896 innings.
IMO, starting pitching will be the biggest key.
Our bullpen will be good, but it's not gonna be elite like 14'-15'
15' We Ave 4.5 runs (MLB ave 4.2) and were 5th in runs in all MLB. Also 5th in AL
14' We were 4.0 (MLB 4.1), were 9th in AL. In 16' we were 4.2 (MLB 4.5), 12th in AL
We don't need to be top 5 in MLB, but we can't be below the MLB average and bottom half in the AL