any rookie pitcher that faces the Mets will get one.
Id add in Max Fried
Yeah honestly kind of didn't want to put Gerrit Cole or Greg Maddux because felt one was too old and one too young and Max Fried would be even younger........ I feel Cole could be though but Maddux was too old by the time 2000 hit and he still has great years but the best of his years were behind him in the last quarter century. I feel Tarik Skubal could easily be mentioned too given how he's doing but again too young maybe in 10 or 20 years that conversation could be had but yeah.
If it was the past 40 years it would be Maddux, Johnon and Martinez as a top 3 still but here although there are various metrics like WAR and K/9 as well as IP that can be considered I felt all had comparable IP/WAR/K9 to be considered but yeah some of Randys numbers would put him as the best based on that but if we look at ERA+ it gives us a deeper insight.
ERA+ (Adjusted Earned Run Average) is a pitching stat that adjusts a pitcher's ERA for ballpark factors and the difficulty of the league. It's a way to compare pitchers more fairly across different eras and with pitchers who play in different parks. 100 being leagues average and anything above 100 being above league average and anything below 100 being below league average. Simply put it measure production so a player with a 150 ERA+ produces 1.5 times better than the league average or the production of 1.5 players in one......
For example Randy didn't have one 200+ ERA+ season from 2000 till the end of his career neither did Maddux or Verlander.......
Kershaw had two and Martinez had 3 even though Randy Johnson would post more WAR than Martinez in the same season, thankfully they were in different leagues at the time or that would have been a hard one for writers to vote on. Martinez has 3 Cy Young Awards vs Johnsons 5 Cy Youngs but Martinez has more ERA Leader awards and more sub 3.00 seasons from 2000 till the end of his career than Johnson as well.....
And as said even in seasons where Johnson had more WAR than Martinez, Johnson never had one 200+ ERA+ season between 2000 to the end of his career....... Martinez had three 200+ ERA+ seasons...... not even Kershaw had as many and he had two 200+ ERA+ seasons but one of them was in the shortened 2020 Covid season....... Verlander had none...... Kershaw posted a 237 ERA+ in 2016 and 202 ERA+ in 2020........ amazing especially in the StatCast Era..... Kersh also has good number before and after StatCast in general and a career sub 3.00 ERA as does Martinez.
Again Verlander, Johnson and even Maddux had no 200+ ERA+ seasons from 2000 onwards...... Martinez had 3....... In 2000 Martinez posted a 291 ERA+ season, 202 ERA+ in 2002 and a 211 ERA+ in 2003 and 6 sub 3.00 ERA seasons in that time span including a 1.74 ERA in 2000...... also no one comes close to Martinez 11+ WAR 2000 season.
I mean Kershaw got a vote but just barely from me after looking at the stats he had some amazing seasons too and it's well deserved but if it was just one vote it would be for Pedro Martinez. As amazing as the others seasons were and they were all seasons from the stuff dreams are made of....... Martinez arguably had some of the best if not the best seasons in this last quarter century based on production and ERA+ in general....... I mean his 2000 season he produced nearly 3 times higher than league average and then went on to have another two seasons of 200+ ERA+............
It's just insane and well hats off to a real living legend walking amongst us. This guy was just unreal, defied all baseball logic and he well damn shouldn't exist but yeah....... dude really did some amazing stuff and nuff said.
The Magician.......
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