If you are talking about the 5-6 guys that are dominant every single year then having them instead of a slugger might make sense.

And I am going to say MAYBE here because I have some doubts based on arguments like the starter only plays once every four or five days and the hitter plays every day.

But I absolutely without a doubt will take the 30th best hitter over the 15th best pitcher every day of the weak because there are not 15 starters in baseball that are reliable to put up IMPACT numbers year in year out.

In essence what I am saying is if you want to own Greg Maddux and PJ Martinez go for it. But don't pay a lot for 2nd tier starters with the idea that your team will have a long run of success.

My philosophy is get your two-threee good solid starters, some filler for early in the season, and then fill in the rest with those one year guys that show up on the trade market every year.