Comments on: Max Scherzer is trying to crash the aces-only party for MLB strikeout leaders

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:16:28 +0000

“may” being the operative word.

Of course his BAbip was .316 (almost exactly his career average) last year when he sported a 4.43 ERA and 1.349 WHIP and a below average ERA+.

If I dug deeper, I’m sure I could glean some more definitive reasons why he has performed as a slightly above average SP – but I’m pretty sure it generally has to do with allowing too many BB’s and too many hits for a guy who w/ a career 9.2 K/9.

Maybe it changes in the future, but Scherzer is not as good as Dickey. Accept it.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:05:23 +0000

I guess I should never be shocked at how many people ‘miss the point’.

By: tmohr

tmohr — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:33:01 +0000

Scherzer’s BABIP is .355, which is the highest of any Tigers starter. That may help explain his high-ish ERA.

By: mntreehugger

mntreehugger — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:39:00 +0000

Yeah because win/loss record is such a great measure of success.

By: atworkident

atworkident — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:55:29 +0000

8-13 isn’t a good year… unless you pitch for the Astros, then you are the ace.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:55:19 +0000

When Randy Johnson won his first strikeout title, he was 28 with a 3.95 career ERA. He had a lot of potential, but had barely pitched above average up to that point.

So maybe this bodes well for Scherzer.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 05:11:13 +0000

WHO is just talking about strikeouts? Seriously, I can read and comprehend fairly well . . .

The premise of Gleeman’s post is, and I quote directly from his first two lines:

Usually the MLB strikeout leader is a big-name, Cy Young-caliber pitcher.

In fact, every single MLB strikeout leader during the past 20 years fits that description:

Hmmmm . . .

Well let’s see . . . is Max Scherzer having a Cy Young-caliber season? NO.

Is R.A. Dickey having a Cy Young-caliber season? Arguably, YES.

Since 2010, Dickey has pretty clearly been in a class above Scherzer. ERA, ERA+, WHIP and WAR pretty clearly illustrate that.

Finally, your comment in the context of Aaron Gleeman’s post, did not reflect what you believed it to.

Next time, I suggest you include a qualifier such as “If we are speaking strictly of Strikeout Pitchers, then R.A. Dickey’s name among . . .”

That is all.

By: Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:30:44 +0000

We’re talking about just strikeouts. When it comes to strikeouts and considering the company of Johnson, Wood, Verlander, etc., which name would look out of place?

The guy who throws his fastball at 94 MPH on average or the knuckleballer who, until 2012, hadn’t had a K/9 average of more than 7 in a decade?

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:12:09 +0000

Uh huh. Only good year. And I guess his previous two season, were what? Terrible?

                                                                      
Year        Age  W  L W-L%  ERA GS CG SHO    IP   H  BB  SO ERA+  WHIP
2010         35 11  9 .550 2.84 26  2   1 174.1 165  42 104  138 1.187
2011         36  8 13 .381 3.28 32  1   0 208.2 202  54 134  112 1.227
2012         37 15  4 .789 2.82 25  4   2 175.1 140  40 181  136 1.027
NYM (3 yrs)     34 26 .567 3.00 83  7   3 558.1 507 136 419  127 1.152

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original TableGenerated 8/22/2012.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:08:49 +0000

No longer looks so strange to me – especially because Dickey is having an all-around high caliber season.

That can’t be said of Scherzer.

By: reggietfromda623

reggietfromda623 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:06:38 +0000

I agree brian this is r.a.’s only good year

By: Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:29:01 +0000

R.A. Dickey’s name among that group would sure looks a lot stranger than Scherzer’s.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:00:27 +0000

Scherzer is on his way to big name status…if he wins the K record this season, he’s a lot closer to big name status. He’s putting together a second half so good that it makes his up n down first half meaningless.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:51:04 +0000

Just another reason why Baseball is awesome.