I Got It! (more on relievers-turned-starters)

Byung-Hyun Kim. Motherfucker is third in the line of evidence suggesting Braden Looper's arm is going to explode this year.

First, though, thanks to Midre and our other reader, Daniel, for suggesting other examples of relievers-turned-starters. However, I think the thing that distinguishes Graves, Riedling, and Looper from the likes of Gossage, Leiter, Pedro, Ryan, and even Derek Lowe is that the former three were used exclusively as relievers for at least three years in the majors prior to being converted to full time starters (Graves had only made 3 starts in the minors, Riedling pitched terribly in 74 minor league startes, and Looper last started 9 years ago at A level). All of the latter dudes started lots in the minors or majors before relieving in the majors for a short time.

After racking my brain for awhile, the only other pitcher I could come up with that fits this criteria is Byung-Hyun Kim, who had only one start in the majors and 5 in the minors before converting to starter in 2003. He happens to show the same trend as Graves and Riedling:

before: 3.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP
after: 4.62 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, on the trade block with the Rockies

I'm sure there's an exception somewhere. I just hope it doesn't end up being Looper.