Tuesday, August 7, 2007

In defense of... Adam Eaton? Are you nuts?


Obviously I am not defending Adam Eaton here. There is very little love for him in these parts. Yet someone I was talking to earlier today came to his defense during my brief bashing of him and his 6.09 ERA by saying "Yeah, but he's 9-7. That's not bad."

Yes, this is true; he has 9 wins and 7 losses, good for a .563 winning percentage. Hmmm, not too shabby. Oh wait, that's right- ADAM EATON DOES NOT WIN OR LOSE BALL GAMES ALL BY HIMSELF. Actually, he does lose some all by himself. But overall, baseball is a game played by teams. Yes, you heard it here first- teams. And that team plays offense as well as defense (which here includes pitching). Adam Eaton's team just happens to be spectacular on offense, including when he pitches. In 7 of the games he's been credited with a W, the Phils scored 5 or more runs. That's good run support. It is the offense that is winning most of these games, not the very hitable Adam Eaton. He ain't winning a thing other than the contempt of throngs of local pretzel-eating beercaholics (beercaholics are like alcoholics, but for beer).

Hey, here's something- Johan Santana is just 11-9 this year even though he has a 2.98 ERA and a WHIP of 1.03, both of which are way below league average. What, only a .550 winning percentage, Johan? You need to do more to win ball games, pal. Maybe you can DH yourself and hit home runs! No? Well then, you obviously are just a very average pitcher, and I hate you.

Wins are the stupidest measurement of a pitchers ability or value ever, so please don't use them to demonstrate a point in an argument with me. Thank you.

8 comments:

Mark dlV said...

The wins a pitcher accumulates over one season is definitely too small of a sample size to use for comparitive sakes. But over a career, the pitchers with the most amount of wins are usually the best pitchers and the Adam Eatons of the world have their 5-17 seasons to put them in their place.

People said the same thing about Eric Milton when he was in Philly, that as bad as he was, he found a way to win.

His record since he pitched on the Phillies: 16-27. Either he forgot "how" to win or the offense behind him in Cincy is not nearly as good as the one he had during his season with the Phillies.

Jacobin said...

Adam Eaton flat out sucks. How bad is he? People are wondering if Garcia will be back in enough time to take Eaton's place in the rotation. The guy with a shredded shoulder and one unimpressive win to start the season is seen as a potential upgrade.

But look on the bright side, Eaton only has two more years left on his contract worth about $8 million per.

JG said...

Bert Blyleven has a career Adjusted ERA equivalent to Tom Glavine's. He also has 3701 K's to Glavine's 2544. Yet since Glavine has 300 wins because he played for better teams, he'll be in the HOF. That pisses me off- for no good reason, but it does.

Jacobin said...

Jim, over the years I've fluctuated on Blyleven in the hall. His stats are impressive, and it's a sure thing that he'd be in had he hit 300 wins. The most consistent argument I hear against him is that he was never the best or most dominant pitcher of his time, and that he only one 20 games once. Blah blah blah... I've grown to think these arguments are crap. This guy should be in the hall. I looked him up on www.baseball-reference.com a little while ago and that site lists players that have the most comparable stats. Blyleven's comparable pitchers are Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins, Tommy John, Tom Seaver, Jim Kaat, Phil Niekro, Early Wynn, and Steve Carlton. On top of that, they give numbers that are supposed to project if the player is a "hall of famer," and in those categories, Blyleven either meets or exceeds the baseline number.

That Glavine will get in and Blyleven has consistently not gotten in pisses me off too, but I know the no-good reason it upsets me... Glavine spent all those years with the Braves during a time I grew to detest the team from Atlanta that couldn't sell out the playoff games it choked in.

Mark dlV said...

Adam Eaton still stinks.

Theodore Roosevelt said...

poop on wins.

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