Sweezo wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
So, if one pitcher getting strikeouts boosts our confidence...does trading a player like Jones and starting a player like Wilkerson, a player whom Bedard wishes he could pitch against every at bat of his career, undo that confidence?
Can anyone convince me that a pitching style that leads to inflated pitch counts is better than a pitcher who uses his stuff to get groundball outs quick in the count?
Sweezo, there are very very few CONSISTENT starting pitchers with sub or near sub 3 ERA years that AREN'T stiikeout pitchers. Let's look at some of the dominant pitchers of the last decade or so:
Randy Johnson
Roger Clemns
Jake Peavy
Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Pedro Martinez
There are very few consistent dominant pitchers, but those are the ones I can think of. ALL of them have consistently kept there ERA in the 3's, and ALL of them are SO pitchers that average about a K an inning.
The bottomline is there are very few groundball pitchers that CONSISTENTLy pitch with a SUB 4 era. Pitchers like Jamie Moyer, or Greg Maddux that rely a lot on their defense are exceptions to the rule. They are very very few and far between. Besides, the rule makes sense- as a groundball represents the possibility for error (whereas there is zero chance for error in a strikeout).
Tell me examples of non-power starting pitchers outside of Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer in the last decade that have CONSISTENTLY been in the 3's or below ERA wise, let alone CY YOUNG candidates? Or do you feel Cy Young awards are overrated because they go by overblown stats? Ironic, since every Cy Young award candidate seems to be a power pitcher...
