Monthly Pitching Splits - AL

Certain pitchers have big discrepancies in their month-to-month performances. Former pitcher Rick Reed was a notorious great early-season performer, but he would wear down as the season went on. Thus, it was a good idea to try to draft Reed for a buck or two, and then trade him before he went into the tank.

Here are some notable career ERA monthly splits for active starting pitchers with at least 3 years big-league experience (best ERA month is highlighted):

American League:

Steve Trachsel
APR 4.90 MAY 3.82 JUN 4.38 JUL 4.76 AUG 3.90 SEP 3.96

Curt Schilling
APR 3.50 MAY 3.12 JUN 3.87 JUL 3.39 AUG 3.26 SEP 3.61

Mike Mussina
APR 3.76 MAY 3.36 JUN 4.14 JUL 4.26 AUG 3.57 SEP 2.95

Carl Pavano
APR 4.41 MAY 4.23 JUN 4.52 JUL 4.54 AUG 4.36 SEP 3.68

Roy Halladay
APR 4.69 MAY 3.23 JUN 3.63 JUL 3.47 AUG 4.38 SEP 2.45

AJ Burnett
APR 3.42 MAY 3.76 JUN 3.27 JUL 4.75 AUG 3.38 SEP 4.24

Jon Garland
APR 5.33 MAY 4.21 JUN 4.41 JUL 4.30 AUG 4.05 SEP 4.88

Jose Contreras
APR 4.05 MAY 3.73 JUN 5.26 JUL 4.97 AUG 4.42 SEP 3.85

Mark Buehrle
APR 4.24 MAY 2.92 JUN 3.68 JUL 4.50 AUG 3.74 SEP 4.07

CC Sabathia
APR 4.16 MAY 3.41 JUN 4.67 JUL 5.11 AUG 3.78 SEP 3.09

Jake Westbrook
APR 4.66 MAY 5.23 JUN 3.35 JUL 4.73 AUG 4.93 SEP 3.40

Johan Santana
APR 4.28 MAY 4.33 JUN 2.76 JUL 3.72 AUG 2.23 SEP 2.43

Carlos Silva
APR 4.72 MAY 4.30 JUN 3.87 JUL 5.23 AUG 4.53 SEP 3.09

Jeremy Bonderman
APR 5.18 MAY 4.20 JUN 4.53 JUL 4.37 AUG 5.76 SEP 4.14

Mike Maroth
APR 4.15 MAY 5.47 JUN 3.59 JUL 5.76 AUG 5.15 SEP 4.79

Gil Meche
APR 4.38 MAY 5.00 JUN 2.88 JUL 5.68 AUG 5.55 SEP 4.40

Dan Haren
APR 3.87 MAY 3.92 JUN 3.70 JUL 4.45 AUG 4.24 SEP 4.07

Joe Blanton
APR 4.31 MAY 7.39 JUN 2.92 JUL 4.50 AUG 1.99 SEP 4.96

John Lackey
APR 5.11 MAY 4.15 JUN 3.46 JUL 3.15 AUG 4.86 SEP 3.33

Bartolo Colon
APR 4.27 MAY 3.69 JUN 4.69 JUL 3.78 AUG 3.79 SEP 3.80

Vicente Padilla
APR 4.03 MAY 4.50 JUN 4.06 JUL 3.72 AUG 3.39 SEP 5.01

Kelvim Escobar
APR 4.95 MAY 4.97 JUN 4.22 JUL 4.41 AUG 3.66 SEP 3.68

Kevin Millwood
APR 4.03 MAY 4.13 JUN 4.72 JUL 3.60 AUG 3.63 SEP 3.33

Miguel Batista
APR 5.33 MAY 3.87 JUN 4.79 JUL 3.74 AUG 4.44 SEP 5.22

Joe Blanton has the wildest variance, but also has just 4 years under his belt.

Cold-weather pitchers include Contreras, Pavano and Mussina.

Garland and Padilla seem to like summer.

Johan Santana, Kevin Millwood and Kelvim Escobar are late-bloomers.

Dan Haren and AJ Burnett prefer the first half of the year.

It's interesting to note that NONE of those pitchers have their best ERA in April, when the cold weather is supposed to keep the scoring down.