good dolphin wrote:
man of few opinions wrote:
what you just said isnt dumb-assed. what you just said seems like a pretty solid opinion that makes sense. that isnt what i was was commenting on.
i was commenting on the remarks you hear when an AL pitcher goes to the NL, that you can safely give them 5 extra wins, or chalk them up the cy young, or claim they will win 3 or 4 or however many more games than they have ever won in a single-season previously. it almost never happens, and it likely isnt happening with santana either. maybe sabathia will come over and dominate. time will tell.
when AL pitchers start coming to the NL and dominating and blowing away their previous career stats and racking up huge win totals and winning all of the cy young awards, i will become a believer in that theory. until then, i think it is a dumb-assed theory.
Ted Lilly
Looking at the argument from another angle, a guy like Maddux would no longer be in the league if he had to pitch in the AL.
ted lilly hasnt won any more games than he did in the AL. typically speaking, naturally a pitchers stats should improve when going to the NL from the AL, there is no arguing that. but that does not necessarily equate into a whole bunch of extra wins. it is a different game in the NL. yes, pitchers bat, which improves the stats, but pitchers also get pulled earlier for pinch-hitting reasons, teams may go into the bullpen earlier, and starters may not get decisions in the NL that they may have been able to hang around for in the AL.
listen, im not arguing that the NL is stronger or even as strong as the AL right now. i am just saying that a lot of times projected results for pitchers coming from the AL to the NL are way over-estimated, and while the stats will improve, that doesnt automatically equate to x number of wins. there arent that many examples of AL pitchers moving to the NL and dominating any more than they did in the AL, but it is always predicted. maybe sabathia will dominate, he is a hell of a pitcher, and i wish the cubs had gotten him. i just dont think it is a done deal that he is going to just crush the NL.