re: SI article on current MLB players who could make HOF by position

quote:

---

Meh. For the vast majority of baseball history pitchers, at least starters, were judged on ERA, Ks and how many wins and losses they had. IMO HOF caliber starting pitchers should have a shitload of wins. Things have changed a little now that pitchers come out earlier but I still think a pitcher blaming a loss on his team is a cop out unless his team scores less than 2 runs. I guess I am old school but I like traditional stats better than this new crap!

---

I agree with ERA and K's because those represent actual production, but a pitcher shouldn't be held accountable if his team can't score runs. It's like blaming the QB because his defense can't stop anyone. Nolan Ryan had a winning percentage of slightly above .500, but no one is making a case to keep him out of the HOF.

quote:

---

For the vast majority of baseball history pitchers, at least starters, were judged on ERA, Ks and how many wins and losses they had.

---

Yeah, and they used to throw complete games. With so few pitchers going the distance these days, it's becoming more and more of an archaic statistic. At best, a pitcher used t have 50% responsibility for a win or loss, if you think defense has no impact. But now, with pitchers rarely going to distance, at BEST, they have about a 33% impact, which is how long they pitch for.

Wins don't matter for pitchers today because they aren't on the mound when the game is decided. Well, then there's the fact they can't score runs, but you get my meaning. I'd rather discard how wins are calculated, and look at a team's win-loss record in a pitcher's start regardless which pitcher gets assigned the win.