Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

I guess I believe in mental makeup, but I think it eventually comes out in the wash. To me mental makeup is as much about someone like Tony Gwynn studying every at-bat like the Zapruder film as it is about mystically rising to the occasion. Peyton Manning is the most clutch quarterback in football - and, unsurprisingly, probably the best-prepared, as well.

 

If you don't think an idiotic cliched generality like that isn't embarrassing to your side of the argument, you're completely out of touch.

Then again, you were the one whining about something you thought Plaschke <b>might</b> say, so maybe that's to be expected.

 

There is no my side of the argument. I think that traditional scouting and statistical analysis are complementary.

 

Do you think the bad/unsuccessful QBs don't prepare? They study tape, they practice, they listen to their coaches. But putting all that knowledge and preparation into action is another matter.

One of the things that sets P. Manning apart is his ability to step up the line, make split-second adjustments, then hang in there to throw to a spot he knows the receiver will be hitting, all just as a 350-pound monster is about to spear him in the ribs. Your preparation doesn't show if you can't perform in trying circumstances. A lesser QB throws the ball away or throws an interception as soon as he hears footsteps or gets tackled for a loss. It doesn't mean he isn't aware of what he should do, he just can't get it together enough to do it.

I don't know if S. Sullenberger is the best pilot in the US, but he reacted with calm and applied his training to save lives and put the plane down safely in the Hudson. Other pilots with the same training and the same experience may not have had the same favorable outcome.

 

I know this has been addressed, but I have to chime in. I call bullshit on your bullshit. ERA is a far better indicator because it measures how well a pitcher does his primary job -- preventing the other team from scoring.

Zack Greinke had the lowest ERA in the American League while Justin Verlander led the league in strikeouts. Who was better?

Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants had 33 more strikeouts this past season than Chris Carpenter despite pitching 28 2/3 fewer innings. Who was better?

 

Chris Carpenter was 44th in MLB in stirkeouts last season but was second in MLB and first in NL in ERA. You got 43 guys you want before Carpenter?

 

Never once did I say that, without exception, pitchers with a lot of strikeouts are better than pitchers with less strikeouts. There are a lot of other factors, of course. Walks. Home runs. Defense behind the pitcher. Extra base hits. Luck. But strikeouts are very important. Someone said they were no more important in assessing a pitcher's career performance than popups to second base, and I disagree with that. Vehemently.

 

The ability to get a strikeout in a big spot is important.
So is the ability to get a ground ball that becomes a double-play.

 

Can we not pretend that Chris Carpenter is Jon Garland? Carpenter may have been 44th in strikeouts, but he still struck out almost seven guys per nine innings, well above the threshold of a successful power pitcher. He struck out 213 batters the year he won the Cy Young Award, nearly eight per nine innings. He struck out more than 180 the next year.

The years he was hurt, he struck out less than five guys per nine innings. The biggest indicator that his stuff had returned was the fact that he started striking guys out at a high rate again last year. He also kept the ball in the ballpark at a ridiculous pace.

 

Sanchez walks too many guys.

 

Agreed, but if strikeouts are the most important statistic, wouldn't that make him better than Carpenter?

That said, I agree that strikeouts are more important than a pop-up to second base. They just aren't as good of an indicator of a pitcher's performance as ERA.

 

No. It's the most important statistic among many, but not independently conclusory.