With some help from Adam Rubin, I ranked the current projected NL East starting rotations according to which ones will be the best in 2012 and also 2013.

2012 NL East Projected Rotations

  1. Philadelphia Phillies: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Vance Worley
  2. Atlanta Braves: Tim Hudson, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor
  3. Miami Marlins: Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez, Chris Volstad (with Volstad likely to get displaced by an addition — potentially Joe Saunders, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney)
  4. Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Chien-Ming Wang, John Lannan
  5. New York Mets: Johan Santana, R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey, Dillon Gee

Notes

Braves may trade Jurrjens to make room for pitching-phenom Julio Teheran who Baseball America says will be their ace for years and years to come. They also have top prospect RHP Aroydis Vizcaino on the way who is said to have one of the most lethal curves in the minors.

Marlins are still trying to get Matt Garza or Joe Saunders. Nolasco and Sanchez continue to improve, but top prospect Jose Fernandez and his plus fastball is right around the corner.

Mets are reportedly looking to trade 25 year old southpaw Jon Niese, and even if ace Johan comes back and proves healthy, he’ll be gone too. Dickey, 37, may be the best the Mets got right now and they are hoping that Familia and Harvey will be ready by late 2012, and then Wheeler a year after that.

The Nationals say Strasburg is ready to air that arm out and now they added Gio who they will control through 2015. Zimmermann keeps getting better and is a solid top rotation guy, and they still have RHP Alex Meyer and LHP Matt Purke in the cupboard.

The Phillies are gonna get old some say, but Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee show no signs of slowing down, none. Cole Hamels would be an ace on 20 major league teams and Worley might be the best #4 starter in baseball and a #2 on most teams. And we haven’t even mentioned their #1 prospect Trevor May.

2014 NL East Projected Rotations

  1. Philadelphia Phillies: Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Trevor May, Cliff Lee, Vance Worley
  2. Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Matt Purke, Alex Meyers
  3. Atlanta Braves: Tommy Hanson, Julio Teheran, Jair Jurrjens, Mike Minor, Randall Delgado
  4. Miami Marlins: Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Jose Fernandez, Mark Buehrle, Anibal Sanchez
  5. New York Mets: Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, Darin Gorski
The Mets are the only NL East team with no sure things in the rotation. It’s even a stretch to think that all four of their top pitching prospects will make it to the majors in the first place. But it is what it is and for now the Mets strategy is based on a wing and a prayer.