Quote:
Originally Posted by jsarno
Bert is overrated in a lot of minds, and underrated in a lot of others. In my mind he's overrated due to his .534 winning percentage. 287 wins, (in 685 starts) and he only had 1 20 win season (also one of the main reasons hes not in the hall). He had 8 .500 or worse seasons, and only 1 game over .500 4 times in his career.(that's 12 seasons of 1 game above .500 or worse in his career...not good) His longevity skews his numbers overall to make it appear as if he was a great pitcher, while in reality, he was a good pitcher. To be #4 on this list is a far stretch IMO. I wouldn't have said anything if he was #10 or so though. Not sure he can count as "in the modern day" since he started his career in 1970, and had 7 seasons with 37 or more starts, 1 with 40 which is unheard of in this day and age. His 242 CG is a stat that shows he's not really a modern day pitcher. Also, how many times do you see a pitcher above 260 innings pitched for a season? He has had 260 or more innings pitched 9 times, including a stretch of consecutive seasons with: 278.1, 287.1, 325, 281, 275.2, and 297.2 but DID NOT LEAD THE LEAGUE IN THAT CATAGORY. But I do get your point.
John Smoltz, Kevin Brown, and David Cone were all better pitchers IMO. Bert was not great, but certainly good. He's been on the cusp of the hall for a reason, and doesn't deserve it for a reason IMO.
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Bert Blyleven Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
vs.
David Cone Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
Kevin Brown Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
John Smoltz Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
It's all about who's better. Clemens, of course, could have been much higher, although much of his value was based on the fact that he didn't decline naturally over his 40's. So, you know, a few 5.00 ERA seasons in his 40's and his career probably isn't as good as Blyleven's.
I'm not going to dock Clemens past what he actually was, which is one of the ten best pitchers of the modern era, and maybe top five, plus he won multiple Cy Youngs, but always was a little overrated. One thing I can't dispute is that a great Clemens season was much better than a great Blyleven season, but the median season from either was pretty comparable. For a guy who surely would have been in the HOF, Clemens had a lot of mediocre seasons over his 30's (93, 95, the Yankee years). That's what catches my eye.