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I disagree that W/L pct. is a poor metric for a SP’er. Sure, it can often be deceiving, but if you look at pitchers with the best all-time career W/L pct. with a minimum of 1000 IP’ed, you’ll see some pretty impressive names. And at the end of the day, winning counts for way more that ERA, K’s or any other pitching stat that the arithmetic kids can come up with.
So Gibson is better than Gray. And Lynn going 7-2 with the Dodgers is a good metric for his 2024 season.
Sure he is, but I’m partial. Although his W/L pct. isn’t as gaudy as some other pitchers of his era, Bob Gibson remains my all-time favorite pitcher…But hey, he’s .778 in WS decisions…Haha!
From a Washington Post article on the Cardinals:
Explaining the Cardinals Moves
So the Cardinals entered this offseason desperate for starters and everyone around the sport knew it, which meant they had little leverage in potential trade negotiations and little room to hide from agents who might want to drive their clients’ prices up. Plus, the free agent market for starting pitchers is sparse enough that multiple heads of baseball operations called it one of the more competitive they have ever seen.
Faced with those circumstances, the Cardinals jumped.
“There’s still two months left in this offseason. We understand there’s still work to do. The offseason is fluid. We’re going to take our time, reassess where we are,” Mozeliak said. “We’ll certainly see if there are ways we can still improve before we get down to Jupiter.”
I’d still like to see Matz potentially bumped from the rotation, whether via trade or signing. He’s shown that he can be of assistance in the bullpen, and maybe it will help him stay healthier. At his salary, he’s not a bad deal even if he can just be an effective 6th-7th inning guy.
The W/L numbers are not as good of a metric for evaluating a starting pitcher as they were when starters completed a lot of games. Today’s starters are expected to give you 6 innings, and if they are really on their game they might get 7.
But I have always liked the stat and there was something magical back in the day when a guy attained the 20 win plateau.
Kyle Gibson does not excite me at all. I would have advised Mo to stick with the youth and go with Libby and Hudson in the rotation ahead of Gibson and Lynn. Now maybe you grab one of the old guard, but not both. However, given the short time frame of the deals the risk is not great, and we will have to give the kids a chance here in the next couple of years. Maybe these old geezers find the fountain of youth and it all clicks for the 2024 team, who knows.
I am liking the Sonny Gray acquisition a little more as time goes on and I sleep on it a few nights, without waking up in a panic. Still need another guy to step up. Everyone thinks we need to look outside and bring in Cease, which is fine. But I am not too sure the guy is not on the roster already. Maybe it’s Matz, who trended upwards in the second half last year. Maybe it is Libby, who will put it together and realize some of the early potential he possessed. Perhaps Mikolas will be 3/4 of a run per game better in ‘24. Maybe even someone like McGreevey gets a shot mid-season and becomes a sensation.
Well, maybe I am dreaming but as I said before, I am keeping a glass-half-full attitude for awhile and hope the good vibes transcend to the Graybird roster.
Right now, I’d like to see them piggyback Thompson with Matz and Liberatore with Lynn to keep them stretched out as starters.
If Matz & Thompson each give you four innings, the bullpen only has to work one.
If Lynn gives you 5-6 innings, and Liberatore gives you 3-4, cuts way down on bullpen usage.
Then, they are ready to jump in the rotation if/when someone gets injured. Whoever is called up from Memphis does the same thing.
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