Cliff Lee won his 19th game yesterday against the Detroit Tigers. This gave him his 70th win in the last 5 years. If you compare him to some more familiar names, you have to wonder why Lee is almost never mentioned in the elite class of pitchers.
Wins in the last 5 years
Cliff Lee – 70
Johan Santana – 82
Jake Peavy – 67
Josh Beckett – 71
Roy Halladay – 67
Brandon Webb – 74
CC Sabathia – 71
By the way, that list should also show you just how dominant Johan Santana has been in the last 5 years. Santana, and the rest of those pitchers salaries also dwarf Lee’s, who made 4 million this year.. So is Lee about to move into the upper echelon of pitchers? Or will we look back on this probable 20 win season and call him a simple flash in the pan?
There have been instances throughout this history of baseball of players who are able to attain excellence in a single season only to have their career never reach that pinnacle again. Here are just a few examples of baseball players who had great runs only to have the rest of their careers fail to live up to that one or two magical seasons.
20 Game Winners
You would think Cliff Lee winning 20 games would put him into elite company…..not so fast:
1991- John Smiley 20-8
1991 – Bill Gullickson 20-9
1999 – Jose Lima 21-10
2001 Matt Morris 22-8
2001 – Jon Leiber 20-6
2003 – Esteban Loaiza 21-9
50 Home Run Club
Maybe hitting all of these homers made them big headed. Orrrrr, the steriods made them big headed and a lack of steroids made them Craig Counsel-like. Regardless, these guys never sniffed 50 ever again.
1996 Brady Anderson 50
1998 Greg Vaughn 50
2001 Luis Gonzales 57
Major League Batting Champions
While some of these guys listed below were excellent baseball players, their one-season averages were 30 to 40 points higher then they would ever hit again.
1901 Nap Lajoie .426 (career average: .338) definitely on HGH, just look at the picture.
1945 Snuffy Stirnweiss .309 (career average: .268)
1946 Mickey Vernon .353 (career average: .286)
1981 Carney Lansford .336 (career average: .290)
1993 Andres Galarraga .370 (career average: 288)
1994 John Olrerud .363 (.295 career average)
Single Season Saves Champion
The idea of a save has changed greatly. Today it seems almost too easy to be credited with a save. In Detroit, you are granted a save whenever Jim Leyland’s blood pressure reaches 140/90. However, there have been some less then stellar names who were able to shut the door better then anyone for a whole season.
1993 Jeff Montgomery and Duane Ward – 45
1996 Jeff Brantley and Todd Worrell – 44
1997 Jeff Shaw – 42
2000 Todd Jones – 42
2002 Eddie Guardado – 45
2005 Bob Wickman -45
2007 Joe Borowski – 45
MLB Rookie of the Year
It’s got to suck to have that one year where it all clicks but then fades away. It’s really got to suck when that year it all clicks is your rookie year and the rest of your career goes down the toilet.
1976 Mark “The Bird” Fidrych
1980 Joe Charboneau
1983 Ron Kittle
1989 Jerome Walton
1992 Pat Listach
1994 Bob Hamelin
1995 Marty Cordova
1998 Ben Grieve
2003 Angel Berroa
-Violent J
Popularity: 1% [?]
I didn’t think you were allowed to write on the internet and argue that Wins is a justifiable measure of a pitcher’s quality.
#1 reason why Mr. Lee isn’t mentioned among the elites? His ERA last year was 6.29.
The pitchers his career has been most similar to up to 28 years old?
1. Darren Oliver
2. Brian Anderson
3. Pete Schourek
4. Adam Eaton
5. Jarrod Washburn
6. Curt Young
7. Rick Helling
8. Roger Pavlik
9. Juan Guzman
10. Jeff D’Amico
I doubt even a Blue Jays fan would argue that Juan Guzman should be considered elite. Hell, I doubt Guzman’s mother would make that argument.
But why am I doing your research for you?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/leecl02.shtml
Lee is having a fantastic year. Let’s hope it’s his physical peak, and that he’s being tested regularly.