Thursday, September 8, 2011

Wakefield, 200, and comparisons

On Wednesday, Red Sox Pitcher Tim Wakefield failed for the 7th straight time to get his 200th win (when he finally does, he will become the 111th pitcher to do so, quite an accomplishment considering how many people have been in the majors in the past century plus). I am biased towards the knuckleball, so I think Wakefield is the best thing ever, but lets look at some stats. Here I will compare him to the two pitchers who won exactly 200 games (Chuck Finley) and 201 games (Charlie Root). Wakefield has a career ERA of 4.41, Finley 3.85, and Root 3.59. They all have winning records, but in my opinion, wins and losses are extremely unhelpful in rating a pitcher (take Matt Cain, who has a career era of 3.35, but has a losing record). Wakefield also has a lower wins above replacement player (31.8, with negatives the past two years. I would be shocked if he pitches for the Sox next year) than Root (37.9), and Finley (55). Wakefield does have a better WHIP than Finley, but Root's is better.

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