Fallen Leafs

sportscentr:

Good summary of his thinking, which basically went, Lincecum was the best pitcher and everyone else pitched three full games more than Carpenter.  I hadn’t considered this, but considering defense makes Timmy and Javy look a lot better: Vazquez had a 37-year-old playing third base behind him, and Lincecum’s third baseman weighed 270 pounds.

Carpenter’s innings total was the main reason he ended up off my ballot. He pitched extremely well when on the mound, but not well enough to close the value gap between him and the three pitchers I listed, each of whom threw at least 27 innings more than Carpenter. Both Carpenter and Wainwright received significant help from their defense, while neither Lincecum nor Vazquez could say the same.

As for Vazquez, he ranked ahead of Wainwright in the advanced metrics anyway, but I also gave him extra credit for pitching in the most difficult division in the NL, one in which he had to face two great offenses and only one patsy.

As for the win total of each pitcher: I ignored that, because, as I’ve said for years, it tells us nothing useful about how well the pitcher performed.

Once again, Law brings out sound reasoning in his assessment. Like I said, I don’t necessarily agree with him on Javier Vazquez placing second, but I cant argue the type of bounce-back season he had that went fairly under the radar.