Feb
23
2011

A Dubious Mets Pitching Feat, 20 Years In The Making

An article by Ed Leyro

Throughout their nearly half-century of existence, the Mets have always prided themselves on their pitching. From stalwarts like Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman to ’80s greats Dwight Gooden and David Cone, the Mets have always had a quality starter or two in their rotation. Even the current Mets have an ace up their sleeve every time Johan Santana takes the mound.

However, since 1988, the Mets have only won one NL East championship (2006), and that division title was due more to their great hitters (Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado) than their pitching (Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel led the staff with 15 wins apiece). If “pitching wins championships”, then the Mets have been without good pitching for the better part of two decades. In fact, it’s actually worse than it seems.

In 1990, Frank Viola became the last Met to win 20 games when he finished the season with a 20-12 record. That same season, he was almost joined by Dwight Gooden, as Doc fell one win short of the 20-win plateau when he lost his final start of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Since 1990, no Met has approached 20 victories, with Al Leiter coming the closest when he won 17 games in 1998.

Twenty years have elapsed since the Mets had a pitcher win at least 18 games in a single season. When Viola and Gooden achieved their lofty win totals in 1990, the Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays weren’t even major league franchises yet, with the Marlins and Rockies making their debuts in 1993, while the Diamondbacks and Rays played their first games five years later. Yet all four of those expansion teams have had at least one 18-game winner since their inaugural seasons. Let’s look at each major league team, in alphabetical order by league, to see how many of them can boast an 18-game winner since 1990 (players listed are the last ones to reach the 18-victory plateau for their respective teams).

American League

Baltimore Orioles: Mike Mussina (18 wins in 1999)
Boston Red Sox: Jon Lester (19 wins in 2010)
Chicago White Sox: Jon Garland (18 wins in 2006)
Cleveland Indians: Cliff Lee (22 wins in 2008)
Detroit Tigers: Justin Verlander (18 wins in 2010)
Kansas City Royals: Kevin Appier (18 wins in 1993)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: John Lackey (19 wins in 2007)
Minnesota Twins: Johan Santana (19 wins in 2006)
New York Yankees: CC Sabathia (21 wins in 2010)
Oakland Athletics: Trevor Cahill (18 wins in 2010)
Seattle Mariners: Felix Hernandez (19 wins in 2009)
Tampa Bay Rays: David Price (19 wins in 2010)
Texas Rangers: Kenny Rogers (18 wins in 2004)
Toronto Blue Jays: Roy Halladay (20 wins in 2008)

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks: Brandon Webb (22 wins in 2008)
Atlanta Braves: Russ Ortiz (21 wins in 2003)
Chicago Cubs: Carlos Zambrano (18 wins in 2007)
Cincinnati Reds: Pete Schourek (18 wins in 1995)
Colorado Rockies: Ubaldo Jimenez (19 wins in 2010)
Florida Marlins: Dontrelle Willis (22 wins in 2005)
Houston Astros: Roy Oswalt (20 wins in 2005)
Los Angeles Dodgers: Chan Ho Park (18 wins in 2000)
Milwaukee Brewers: Chris Capuano (18 wins in 2005)
Philadelphia Phillies: Roy Halladay (21 wins in 2010)
Pittsburgh Pirates: John Smiley (20 wins in 1991)
San Diego Padres: Jake Peavy (19 wins in 2007)
San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum (18 wins in 2008)
St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright (20 wins in 2010)

Do you see any teams missing? Perhaps you noticed the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals missing from the list. It’s true that they have not had an 18-game winner in the past two decades. But in the strike-shortened 1994 season, Ken Hill of the Montreal Expos was leading the National League with 16 victories when the baseball season came to an abrupt end in mid-August. Surely, had the season been allowed to be played out until its completion, Hill would have earned the two victories needed to reach the 18-win plateau.

So what other team has been left out of the above list? You guessed it. Your friendly neighborhood New York Mets. Since 1990, no Met pitcher has reached the 18-win mark in a single season and only Al Leiter has won as many as 17 games, doing so in 1998. (Pedro Martinez is the only 17-game winner for the Expos/Nationals franchise over the past two decades, winning that many games in 1997, when he won the National League Cy Young Award.)

In 2008, Johan Santana could have won as many as 23 games for the Mets, but the bullpen blew seven of his leads and he was forced to settle for a 16-win season. Johan’s bad luck has been felt by many starters recently, as the Mets have had shaky bullpens in each of the past four seasons.

One thing is for sure. Whether it be because of a less than stellar bullpen or because the Mets have not had many aces in their rotation over the past two decades, they have not been able to put a big winner on the mound since the days of Frank Viola and Dwight Gooden.

Perhaps Mike Pelfrey or R.A. Dickey will be the ones to finally crack the 18-win plateau, as Big Pelf won a career-high 15 games for the sub-.500 Mets last year and R.A. used his Dickey-pedia to outsmart his opponents on his way to 11 victories despite not starting a game until May 19. But for a team that has supposedly prided itself on having great pitching over their long history, having a strike-shortened season keeping the Mets from being the only team without an 18-game winner since 1990 is not something they should ever be proud of.

About the Author: Ed Leyro

Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.

19 Comments + Add Comment

Gina February 22, 2011 at 6:42 pm

That is so mind boggling. And the sad part is we’ve always played half our games in a pitchers park. This is very embarassing.
- t agee February 22, 2011 at 7:58 pm
  
  Very embarrassing, especially since we draft a pitcher who washes out almost every 1st 2nd and 3rd round when we have a pick.
  
  I also couldn’t help but notice 5 of those pitchers mentioned played for us as well, not AS well of course since there seems to be a rule around here against ever getting a players best years in OUR uniform. it’s amazing there really haven’t been more than 5 with Pedro, El-Duque, Livan, Viola, Saberhagen, Glavine, Hampton, Harnish, Tanana.
  
  Capuano will make 6 if he starts a game this year. Let’s hope he becomes the exception.
  - Metsie February 23, 2011 at 3:42 pm
    
    Was it the pitching that was bad or the batting? We had some good pitchers who got no run support when they were here only to see them go on to have success once they left.
    
    The failure of Generation K and the trading of Kazmir also have a little bit to do with this.
    
    And Tag take a look at the pitchers and note who they were with when they won those 20. Your going to find many were not with the team who drafted them or who they broke into the ML with. Most were either trades or Free Agents signed by winning teams.
    
    We may not have gorwn that many but we certainly didn’t have the team that made buying any work either!
Mr North Jersey February 22, 2011 at 7:34 pm

Since 1990?

Wow I wonder what is the record for longest consecutive seasons without an 18 game winner?
- Ed Leyro February 22, 2011 at 7:49 pm
  
  The longest current streak belongs to the Expos/Nationals. They’ve now gone 25 seasons since Bryn Smith won 18 games for the Expos in 1985. Trying to find the longest such streak in baseball history…
  - Mr North Jersey February 22, 2011 at 7:53 pm
    
    Cool! Thanks Ed.
    - Ed Leyro February 22, 2011 at 8:16 pm
      
      Amazingly, that Expos/Nationals streak is the longest in baseball history. Even those dreadful Phillies and Braves teams from the early 19th century and those horrible Cleveland Indians teams always had at least one 18-game winner every 25 years. The Mets’ current streak of 20 consecutive seasons without an 18-game winner is the second longest streak in baseball history. Sometimes I really hate doing research, especially when it paints the Mets in a negative light.
      - Mr North Jersey February 22, 2011 at 8:23 pm
        
        Not to worry we will end that streak this year.
        
        Ed Leyro February 22, 2011 at 10:37 pm
        
        Just found another team that went longer than the Expos/Nationals! Believe it or not, until Roy Halladay won 21 games for the Phillies last year, no Phillie had won as many as 18 games since John Denny won 19 games (and the Cy Young Award) for the 1983 NL Champion Phillies. That represents a 27-year gap, two years longer than the Expos/Nationals.
        
        Mr North Jersey February 22, 2011 at 10:57 pm
        
        The Mets definitely have to end their streak before they set the record then.
        
        any February 22, 2011 at 11:06 pm
        
        just do it this year and get it over with.
        
        hell, throw the NH too and get off that snide.
        
        they threw at least 2 1-hitters last year, so why not?
francis February 22, 2011 at 8:58 pm

who cares ?

how long has it been since a team that only had one pitcher with more than 13 wins and no pitchers with more than 16 wins won the world series ?

4 months.
any February 22, 2011 at 9:35 pm

still more amazing that after 50 years, still without a no hitter.
86mets February 23, 2011 at 8:50 am

Look at the list and you’ll find 4 pitchers who won 18 or more either before joining the Mets (Appier & Santana) or after leaving the Mets (Rogers & Schourek). But really, getting 18 wins is more a product of run support by the team than poor pitching. You really cannot say the Mets over the last 20 years have, as a team, pitched poorly. Johan Santana surely would have broken that streak in 2008 had he not had several leads blown by the bullpen. I would argue the Mets current streak of no 18 game winners is more bad luck brought on by poor run support and/or bullpen meltdowns. For many of the past 20 years the Mets have had plenty of pitchers capable of winning 18 or more (Pedro, Johan, Glavine, Leiter, Cone just to name a few). But in each case either health, poor run support, or bad bullpens, or a combination of all 3 have kept any of them from reaching that level of victories in a single season. That’s got to change sooner or later.
- alwaysnextyear February 23, 2011 at 2:31 pm
  
  I think that you need to clarify that it is bad luck for the PITCHER that they did not win more games (Johan being the poster child). Having consistant poor offenses (though in many of those 20 years, they scored pelnty of runs) and weak BPs (other than a few years is poor planning and FO work just as much as it is bad luck (from a team perspective).
  - t agee February 23, 2011 at 2:46 pm
    
    When you don’t get the production you were expecting for whatever reason it can only be one persons fault. The GM. If your giving away a #1 draft choice for a 40 year old left fielder your making a concious decision to borrow from the future in expectation of it being worth it in the end. If it turns out not to be worth it….
    
    Same as putting a rookie infielder in LF. Risk/reward, pro/con. No different than trading for an injured relief pitcher, giving up two high draft choices for a DH, giving away yet another #1 pick for a closer and committing up to 54 M for him.
    
    Every decision a GM makes has to balance this year vs. subsequent years. Take into account best case and worse case, then plan for both, not just hope for the best.
Joe D February 23, 2011 at 12:30 pm

I loved this post Ed, and it gave me an idea for another one which I will post later today. Why are Mets always so prominent when the subject is futility on offense or pitching? One look at the fact we have never tossed a no-hitter or won an MVP in almost 50 years is a testament to our futility. So sad and pathetic, but I still love our Metsies. Losing builds character they say.
Carlos Alvarez February 23, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Ok you lost me. So who was the last pitcher to win 18 games Viola when he won 20?
A Dubious Mets Pitching Feat, 20 Years In The Making | Mets ... February 24, 2011 at 11:49 am

A Dubious Mets Pitching Feat, 20 Years In The Making | Mets ……

[...]The Mets’ current streak of 20 consecutive seasons without an 18-game winner is the second longest streak in baseball history. Sometimes I really hate doing research, especially when it paints the Mets in a negative light. … Mets Merized Online…

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