I know, I have a lot of disagrements with people when it comes to Capuano. Chris, of course, was a feel good story in that he pitched the complete season and he cost us very little financially.

However, one must look at his overall performance – pitching half his games in a pitcher’s ballpark his ERA nevertheless was three quarters of a run higher than the average (4.55 opposed to 3.81) and he was among the league leaders in home runs allowed with 27, he would hardly ever make it out of the sixth inning causing overusage of the bullpen and the only reason his record was 11-12 was because he got the seventh highest run support in the league.

Also, the scouts and players all noted that Chris’ velocity had been consistent throughout his starts and season – it was after the first go round in the lineup that batters caught up to him – hence the problems when it came to the middle innings.

And this is where I mention that seasonal stats could be misleading – take away that two hit gem of a shutout against the Braves and his ERA would be 5.03. To be fair, take away his worst performance – seven earned runs in five innings early in the year against Colorado – and his ERA would still be at 4.57.

Again, consider that he accumulated these lofty pitching performances in Citi Field where he made 16 of his 31 starts.

Now, for saber fans, his WAA was -.9 that season as well.

So I feel good that Chris was able to comeback from his injury plagued past, but as a starter, I believe he would have been sent to the bullpen on any decent team or pitching staff with more depth.

I do though, have to take exception to you view of Capuano. I think you’re underselling his performance the past two years. He’s not a flashy pitcher or anything but he’s been a mid rotation starter for the Mets and Dodgers. He’s the type of guy that people outside of a fanbase doesn’t necessarily know and that even inside a fanbase some don’t appreciate but he’ll go out there every 5th day throw a solid start, even mixing in a very good one, and give you a chance to win.

175 IP, 2.1 WAR

I think it’s going to be one or another, if he ends the season with ~2.1 war, it’ll be in fewer innings or if he pitches ~175 innings, he’ll have more war. I have no clue which one it’ll be though.

Good article.

One of my first memories of listening to WFAN was June of 89 when the Mets acquired Samuel for Lenny and McDowell. It was after a game in Philly when Von Hayes hit a GW HR off of Randy Myers. I am pretty sure I read that the Mets made the deal in the 4th inning of that game.

You know the Phillies made out like bandits in that deal. They also got Charlie Hayes, Mulholland and Dennis Cook in that deal by throwing Bedrosian to San Fran

Uhm, you forgot to add the Wilpons and one baby zebra. Can’t forget them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcMFsgA9iPo

All I ask is to stop hurling insults, instigating or using profanity against any writer or reader.

For two of you, today was the last straw. For three more of you, you’re walking on thin ice.

I think the wins debate is quite frankly a silly one anyway. I don’t think anybody would really suggest wins are not important – they are just less controllable. There is a difference right?

I mean heck, who in their right mind would have thought that in 30 starts, Cliff Lee would have finished with 6 wins last year.

I mean think about that for a second. On the surface if I say to some of your critics, Cliff Lee will win less than 7 games and toss more than 200 innings the immediate reply would be that he’d pitch terrible.

211IP
207H
207K
28BB
1.11 WHIP

This was how Cliff Lee performed. In reality, that’s all you can ask for from a starting pitcher.

217IP
205H
170K
49BB
1.17WHIP

This is what Johnny Cueto did and he finished 4th in the NL Cy Young.

Now you can find stats like ERA to make a better case for Cueto of course. But if you look at what they actually did on the mound, they aren’t that far off. Yet Cueto won 19 games, Lee won 6.

Predicting wins is nice, but the starting pitcher cannot control it as much as we’d like to think and Cliff Lee is the evidence of that.