MLB Discussion - 2012 Season

[tomalak301]

Make that 4 shutouts by this Giants pitching staff. Incredible.

[SmoothieX]

^We have a common enemy this weekend, the Dodgers.

(Resident Mets fan here)

[tomalak301]

Well, the streak ended on the first pitch but it was fun while it lasted.

[Tom Hendricks]

I'm now prepared to say RA Dickey should be the starting pitcher for the National League for the All-Star Game. Another brilliant performance last night, 3 Hits over 8 innings with 10 strike out, 1 walk and no runs. He's the first pitcher to 12 wins, probably only one more start before the ASG. So unless something disasterous happens, he should be the starting pitcher.

[SmoothieX]

I loves me some Dickey!

Wait that sounds wrong.

A power kncukleballer, where the fuck did that come from? 1 hit batsmen and 1 wild pitch all year, that's wild. First in wins, second in K's, third in ERA, as a 37 year old converted knuckler off the scrap heap. I'm biased as a Mets fan, I'll put that right out there, but he deserves it.

Sadly it's still Santana and Dickey and pray for rain. Gee, Niese, and Young inspire nothing but indigestion with me. IF they could pick up an arm before the deadline, I think they could contend for a wild card.

[Starbreaker]

Hell, I hate the Mets, but R.A. deserves the start. Anything to help the NL win.

[Timby]

Tom Hendricks wrote:

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I'm now prepared to say RA Dickey should be the starting pitcher for the National League for the All-Star Game. Another brilliant performance last night, 3 Hits over 8 innings with 10 strike out, 1 walk and no runs. He's the first pitcher to 12 wins, probably only one more start before the ASG. So unless something disasterous happens, he should be the starting pitcher.

Wins are an absolutely worthless statistic for a pitcher, but Dickey deserves some consideration for the start, since his peripherals have been pretty great thus far. Brandon Beachy and Madison Bumgarner have to be in the mix, though, too.

[Tom Hendricks]

RA Dickey probably won't be the deciding pitcher, who ever is pitching later in the game most likely will.

Starbreaker wrote:

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Hell, I hate the Mets, but R.A. deserves the start. Anything to help the NL win.

[Tom Hendricks]

I totally agree with you about wins as a measure for a pitcher, so I always use WHIP. As of last night here are the top 10 pitchers based on WHIP.


RK Player Team W L ERA G GS SV SVO IP H R ER HR BB SO AVG WHIP▲
1 Dickey, R NYM 12 1 2.15 16 16 0 0 113.0 75 29 27 9 25 116 .190 0.88
2 Cain, M SF 9 3 2.53 16 16 0 0 113.2 85 36 32 10 23 114 .207 0.95
3 Beachy, B ATL 5 5 2.00 13 13 0 0 81.0 49 24 18 6 29 68 .171 0.96
4 McDonald, J PIT 7 3 2.44 15 15 0 0 96.0 68 28 26 6 26 86 .200 0.98
5 Miley, W ARI 9 3 2.19 15 12 0 0 90.1 73 25 22 4 18 64 .216 1.01
6 Dempster, R CHC 3 3 2.11 12 12 0 0 81.0 61 21 19 6 22 66 .204 1.02
7 Kershaw, C LAD 5 4 2.74 16 16 0 0 108.1 86 36 33 11 27 103 .221 1.04
8 Strasburg, S WSH 9 2 2.60 15 15 0 0 90.0 71 29 26 6 23 118 .217 1.04
9 Bumgarner, M SF 10 4 2.85 16 16 0 0 110.2 95 40 35 10 22 92 .229 1.06
10 Hamels, C PHI 10 3 3.03 15 15 0 0 104.0 87 38 35 11 25 106 .228 1.08

Timby wrote:

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Wins are an absolutely worthless statistic for a pitcher, but Dickey deserves some consideration for the start, since his peripherals have been pretty great thus far. Brandon Beachy and Madison Bumgarner have to be in the mix, though, too.

[Timby]

Tom Hendricks wrote:

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I totally agree with you about wins as a measure for a pitcher, so I always use WHIP. As of last night here are the top 10 pitchers based on WHIP.

WHIP is a nice top-line statistic, but it isn't the be-all and end-all -- at the end of the day, any hit that isn't a home run still has some measure of involvement from the defense. Dickey is actually beaten, by a semi-significant amount, in dERA by Strasburg, Greinke and Gio Gonzalez (which is odd, as knuckleballers traditionally have lower dERA than traditional pitchers), and he's got an unsustainable BABIP (same problem with Beachy).

I'm not saying that Dickey isn't having a lights-out season -- on the contrary, he absolutely is. I'm just pointing out that he isn't an incontrovertible choice to start in the ASG. Shit, if Ryan Dempster were on a team that wasn't an absolute dumpster fire this season, he'd be in the conversation, too.

[Starbreaker]

Timby wrote:

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. Brandon Beachy and Madison Bumgarner have to be in the mix, though, too.

Beachy had Tommy John surgery. Highly unlikely he's going to be on the all-star team.

[Timby]

Starbreaker wrote:

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Beachy had Tommy John surgery. Highly unlikely he's going to be on the all-star team.

Yeah, I was going by straight numbers. I don't follow the Braves, so I only saw the news about Beachy like a week and a half ago on Twitter and quickly forgot about it.

[tomalak301]

After Matt Cain's perfect game, I would have said Cain be the All Star Starter, but I kind of hope it's Dickey. He deserves it, and it's not just with the wins. He's making everyone (Other than the Yankees) look really foolish at the plate. Heck, considering Cain has been struggling recently, I wouldn't mind if I didn't go and have Bumgarner go instead.

[Starbreaker]

I'd pick

AL:

Chris Sale
Jered Weaver
C.J. Wilson
Justin Verlander
David Price
Jim Johnson
Fernando Rodhey
Chris Perez

NL:

R.A. Dickey
Ryan Dempster
Gio Gonzalez
Madison Bumgarner
AJ Burnett
Tyler Clippard
Craig Kimbrel
Joel Hanrahan

[SmoothieX]

Dickey and Santana and pray for rain.

They need a another solid starter and a right handed bat.