Hall of Famer Phil Niekro finds himself shaking his head from time to time when tuning in to watch today’s Major League Baseball pitchers.
“Six innings is a quality start?’’ Niekro, 73, asked rhetorically. “Sometimes I want to throw up at that.’‘
...Not only is Dickey enjoying one of the finest seasons by a knuckleball pitcher in Major League history — 15-4 with a 2.82 ERA for the New York Mets — but he’s doing it the old-fashioned way in Niekro’s opinion — with guts.
“He’ll go out there and pitch eight or nine innings for you,’’ Niekro said. “I’m sure he doesn’t pitch six innings and look at the bullpen.’‘
“When I got the ball, my objective was to give the ball back to the manager after the game,’’ Niekro said. “I got paid to pitch nine innings, and if not nine, 8 2/3 innings.
“And don’t ask me if I’m tired, because I’ll lie to you, I get paid to pitch nine innings.’‘
...“Some guys go out there and their objective is to pitch nine innings, but most of the time managers won’t do that,’’ said Niekro, who lives in Flowery Branch, Ga., on Lake Lanier.
“Sometimes I just want to throw up when the pitch count comes into effect, when a guy is up to 105 pitches, or 110,’’ he said. “There’s so much money in the game now, they don’t wanna ruin anybody’s arms.
Repoz
Posted: August 23, 2012 at 11:18 PM |
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1. Voros McCracken of Pinkus Posted: August 24, 2012 at 12:22 AM (#4216470)So, really, starters go deep into games primarily to maintain that advantage. But a completely unused bullpen forfeits that advantage. It's an interesting strait to navigate and probably the single most difficult (and therefore important) strategic element a manger has to deal with.
OK, in 1988 they did have pitch counts. Those duded did manage 60%QS and 6.4 IP/start ... but just 94 pitch/GS vs. 2011's 96. In fact, most pitchers per start since 1988 when b-r tracks them ...
2000: 98
2012: 96
2011: 96
2010: 96
1999: 96
Everything else in the last 25 years is below that, never lower than 92. The distribution around that mean is a lot tighter than it used to be with >120 pitch starts and <80 down. The >120 are especially down heavily in 2012 with just 17 so far compared to 59 last year and 79 in 2010.
People who want to bag on the quality start focus on the minimum to qualify for the stat, and not what it is really saying. It's a better stat for pitcher than wins, and that isn't remotely debateable.
So, which part of that is the lie?
Good point. And along with that minimum bar point, the "average" QS would obviously still look pretty good because you get the best games and filter out the chaff. If it was called "games where the pitcher did not suck," or "acceptable starts" it would probably be less controversial.
Definitely parallels the de-emphasis on the swing man. If most relievers are really accustomed to one inning roles, it is harder to patch together 6-7 IP of relief.
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