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Matt,
As I mentioned in the pitching/defense thread, a major change in M's starting pitching occured during 2001-2003.  The types of pitchers changed, as did their innings contributing to E-F and perceived defensive contributions to run prevention.  It looks like strikeout pitchers run less favorable E-F.  A good example may be Verlander becoming worse for E-F as he strikes out more batters.  It just figures.  It doesn't make the fielders any worse, or slumping, just that those pitchers don't need them as much.  It is probably similar to park effects for stud aces.  So E-F is a synergy between pitching and defense. The good thing for the M's for 2010 may be that the current prospective rotation is full of pitchers that need defense and may be expected to run great E-F.   The issue becomes how many runs they give up vs. how many runs we can score, regardless of how many runs the defense saves.