Our pitching problem

After watching Kikuchi's performance last night, (while watching the Aggies be the Aggies), it got me thinking: Who will be our four come playoff time?" This question has been brought up in a few side discussions lately, but now that the playoffs are around the corner it’s an interesting topic. Our least effective starter currently is a future hall of famer with a ton of playoff experience and it’s not like he’s been horrible- just hasn’t kept up with all the other dominant performances by his teammates.

So the candidates:

Framber Valdez – he’s pitching at a Cy Young level currently.

Hunter Brown- it’s clicked for him and is a very talented young arm

Verlander – it’s Verlander.

Ronel Blanco – been our most consistent pitcher all season and has had some phenomenal outings.

Kikuchj – our staff tweaked something and he’s 6-0 since coming here with a sub 3 ERA.

Arighetti – despite being a rookie and a rough first half of the season he has had some really impressive starts as of late.

So right now if you go off of strictly performance as of late then you are pulling Verlander and probably Blanco.

However- you aren’t allowed to not use Verlander for obvious reasons so it’s probably:

Framber / Verlander / Brown / Kikuchi

Then again I could easily see Blanco or even maybe Arighetti over Kikuchi.

Side note: has to be our deepest post season pen with two of those guys ^ plus Scott, Neris, Abreau, Pressly, and Hader.

Thoughts? Who is your four and who do you think will be the four?