A Reminder Of Why ERA Is Bad

Next you’re gonna be saying Wins for a pitcher don’t matter either.

Seriously though, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I read through this. It’s amazing how all people care about is the outcome and don’t look at possible causes for that outcome. And I like the heart next to Amazin Avenue there, nice touch.

I think it’s more of the fact that Porcello is 20, and contributing on a “winning” ballclub, when nobody expected much from him or the team. On the other hand, Pelfrey, who many people had high expectations for, is only pitching slightly above average and the Mets are sucking.
 
Of course, that’s just as much bullshit as ERA or Wins in determining player skill, but those factors definitely have an influence on how a player is thought of by the MSM.

and another reason why it sucks is that you could have someone who has a low ERA, but has given up a lot of unearned runs. It’s like RBI’s in pitching stats. It’s very teammate dependent.

Just sayin’

You did forget the fact that Porcello took Youk down a couple weeks ago in that brawl. Even if the takedown was more gravity aided than anything, it added some gamer points to Porcello’s stats.

By simply removing the 5 runs that have scored following Pelfrey balks, his ERA would drop to a more respectable 4.35. While the balks may not have led directly to all of those runs scoring, they’ve led to 8 additional bases being awarded, certainly creating better opportunities (and I’d guess at least several of those runs would not have scored). Porcellos slightly better GB% and BB% could easily make up for the .14 difference in that case.

Just from watching him, I’d argue that Pelfrey seems to struggle some with his location pitching out of the stretch as he tires. It seems like he gives up the big inning later in the game with some regularity. You can see a drastic difference in his performance with men on here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=pelfrmi01&year=&t=p
Porcello seems to have a far less drastic difference:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=porceri01&year=&t=p
PelfreyWhile ERA is not the only stat (or best) that should be used to evaluate a players performance, it should be looked at.

i will also say that goldstein can be a clown sometimes.

i asked him about thole a month or so ago and he said, “isn’t he just santos with some walks and less power?”

not only is that answer retarded to begin with, but then yesterday when he was asked about thole

and then yesterday when he was asked about thole he said he “can hit”, and then compared him to a guy who hit .264 in the minors.

anyway, this mets defense is abominable and he would’ve been able to go 7 innings of 1 run ball with a non-pathetic ahern/castillo defense.

which is why I would feel bad for Lowe as a Yankee. Cause Jeter sucks defensively.