All alone, as just another statistic to consider when evaluating pitchers, there’s nothing really wrong with crediting pitchers with wins. It certainly isn’t what it used to be, when pitchers were expected to finish their starts, and batted for themselves, and there was far more reason to claim that the pitcher, all by himself, won the ballgame. Even with his teammates providing most of the offense and fielding most of the batted balls, you could see where the pitcher controlled the action and therefore controlled the game.
Run support and bullpen performance are so critical to wins and losses for a starter, that it’s hard to fathom the “best” pitcher is the one with the most wins.
Clemens seems like the right choice when you’ve got the data. If you’re effective (FIP and WHIP) for more innings than the average starter, how could you not be the right guy?
Great stuff! This could easily be part of a series showing how the best player isn’t always awarded, or how even a player's best season is t where he gets the accolades.
I think I would have voted for Clemens but not certain of it. Welch would be my 2 at worst. 27 wins and an ERA under 3 on a team headed to playoffs would be hard to not support. I think if it happened this season, even with the attention advanced metrics get now, he would still win. It might be closer but 27 wins would be such a big deal that I think he would win
Run support and bullpen performance are so critical to wins and losses for a starter, that it’s hard to fathom the “best” pitcher is the one with the most wins.
Clemens seems like the right choice when you’ve got the data. If you’re effective (FIP and WHIP) for more innings than the average starter, how could you not be the right guy?
Great stuff! This could easily be part of a series showing how the best player isn’t always awarded, or how even a player's best season is t where he gets the accolades.
I think I would have voted for Clemens but not certain of it. Welch would be my 2 at worst. 27 wins and an ERA under 3 on a team headed to playoffs would be hard to not support. I think if it happened this season, even with the attention advanced metrics get now, he would still win. It might be closer but 27 wins would be such a big deal that I think he would win