Wins most overrated stat? No way!

John Provine, Tucson, AZ — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:29:57 GMT

Maddux or Ryan? I assume you mean when each was in his prime. I dunno ... if they both had their stuff, it's a tossup, really. You'll get a shutout from either one.

The difference, I guess, is that Maddux was more consistent and therefore more likely to have his stuff. Ryan was like Forrest Gump's chocolates .. you never knew what you were going to get. He could fan 15 and throw a two-hitter, or he might walk 10 and get knocked out by the 4th inning.

So all in all, take Maddux.

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

Jose, Puebla, Mexico — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:53:32 GMT

Whilst over the course of a career all the variables that might upset pitching wins as a valuable statistic probably even out, over the course of a single season pitching wins is hardly the fairest of stats; no one expects guys like Esteban Loiza and Rick Helling to ever reach 20 in a season!

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

Mark Jones Birmingham, Al — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:25:14 GMT

How many pitchers with low WHIPs have .500 records? Answer: None-that's why there are none in the HOF.

A lot of mediocre pitchers have seasons with big win totals, then have low totals the next year when the luck goes away. The biggest predictors of pitching success are SOs, HRs allowed, and walks. The column is long on anecdotes and woefully short on facts.

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

Jason Edwards, Ardsley,NY — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:11:03 GMT

You answered your own question when you wrote "Was (Nolan Ryan) not winning more games his fault? Obviously not."
Naturally, winning is what matters in professional sports, but to give a single player more credit (or blame) for the outcome of a game than his performance merits is a poor method of analysis. A pitcher who yeilds 5 runs in seven innings, but whose teammates score 6 in the bottom of the 7th to make him the winner, cannot be said to have performed better than a pitcher who yeilded only one run, but whose teammates did not score.

Of course managers acknowledge winning as their most important statistic: winning is their only measure of successful performance. But Kelly's example of the talented but unsuccessful pitcher proves him wrong as much as it proves him right: was losing those games the fault of the pitcher who gave up one run too many, or the 9 other players who scored one run too few?

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

Chris, Los Angeles, CA — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:37:30 GMT

Wins are obviously still important, but in today's game they have lost their particular significance as a statistic for starting pitchers. The biggest problem with wins for pitchers is the emphasis put on them by some people. I'm not a Mets fan, but if Santana had 4 of the 6 wins that the bullpen blew for him 2008, would he have won the Cy Young this year? Would he have gotten more votes? How can the Mets' bullpen determine who the best pitcher in the NL is? To vote on CY Youngs based on Wins totals is basically allowing closers to determine who the best starters are. That's just silly.
Let's look at Steve Trachsel's 2006 season: 15-8, 4.87 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 78 BB, 79 K's, 30 starts, 164 and 2/3 IP. Did he have a good season? By ever stat except W-L record he was awful. Truly awful. But did he do something in his starts that directly resulted in his W-L record? Likely not as he averaged just over 5 and 1/3 IP per start. He drained the bullpen every day he took the mound and only won 15 games because of massive run support and solid bullpen work. But that didn't stop some people (like Mets writer Marty Noble) from saying that Trachsel and his 15 wins would be "sorely missed."
And the idea that if an offense scores 8 runs, then a pitcher allows 7 runs that the pitcher did his job is just completely crazy. If a pitcher went 20-5 with an ERA of 7.50, would we say he had a great year? God, I hope not.

Wins are not useless, but they are unfortunately WAY overvalued by some writers today. Thankfully, it appears the nation's obsessions with Saves seems to have slowed, and thankfully no voters thought "K-Rod's" Save CHANCES record was all that impressive, when looked at with his pedestrian save %.

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

Devon Suarez, Heber, AZ — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:50:04 GMT

if wins are not overrated, than Brandon Webb should've won the Cy Young... Why didn't you mention it in your article???

Wins most overrated stat? No way!

TJ indianapolis Indiana — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:05:21 GMT

it is possible for some old school managers to be knuckleheads... Give me the pitchers who allows the fewest amount of baserunners all day long over the guy with the most wins.. I bet 90% of the players woudl agree..