I think ERA with innings pitched is a far better way to judge a pitcher than wins/losses. Especially in the AL where the pitcher cannot even help himself at the plate (not that many do).
I think wins for a starter still have some importance, not so much for a reliever. I've backed down on it some, but a 6 inning win still has a lot of weight for me. 7+ innings is gold.
Wins are certainly an imperfect stat, but that's why there's a gazillion other stats. Put it all together and you've got a nice picture of what's going on
Two pitchers have the same line: 7 IP 1 ER 5 H 1 BB 5 K One guy gets two runs from his offense, the other guy gets zero. I don't see how the win stat matters at all.
Essentially, because the goal is to win and if a starter pitches deep into games unless he has the luck on Clemens in 05, he's going to have a lot of wins. It's also a stat that probably matters more over time than in the course of a game, week, or month. Win 75+ games in a 5 year period, you are a pretty dang good pitcher. Now, are there other stats that will probably back this claim up? Absolutely. I'm not saying it's the stat, but it's a nice summary stat for a starter IMO.
with me it's like recruiting star rankings. don't use it for 1 game (or 1 guy with recruiting stars), use it big picture
WHIP to me is probably the greatest stat when I look at someone's efficiency to be able to determine how they're directly helping or hurting the club. Wins/ERA as a whole are still the most important. But over a short term (even a season) they can be skewed.
Hm. Fair enough. I guess I was always irked because when Ryan was getting ready to be voted into the Hall, a many in the press were over stressing his near .500 winning percentage as a negative.
There are examples like him that are exceptions to the rule. He struck out a metric shit ton of hitters. He also walked a shit ton. He also played on some teams that couldn't play dead in a western. Hard to look at his whole body of work in the same manner as others.
With the advent of the five inning starter, 100 pitch count, 5 starter rotation, will wins still make a big splash? The 20 game winner is a freaking dinosaur these days.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ryanno01.shtml?redir I'm just looking at this, really in no relation is any previous discussions. There are some insane numbers in this. Threw 300 innings twice and threw 299 another season. Threw 16 wild pitches in a 100 game schedule in 81 and still had a 1.69 ERA.
My favorite pitcher of all time, even though he never played for the Cubs and was a ****ing Met at one time. 1) I got to see him pitch unlike earlier pitchers. 2) He retired right as I quit watching baseball religiously. 3) He came at you, said "hit this if you can" and threw it. 4) And finally
