Best ERA+ since 2004
Posted by Andy on June 23, 2009
Quick...which pitcher has the best cumulative ERA+ since 2004?
Bet you don't get it right.
Here's the list, minimum 300 IP (to weed out some guys like Papelbon who haven't been in the league since 2004):
Cnt Player **ERA+** IP From To Ages G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA HR BF IBB HBP BK WP Teams BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ SH SF 2B 3B GDP SB CS Pk +----+-----------------+--------+------+----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+---+----+----+----+----+----+------+---+-----+---+---+---+---+-----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+---+ 1 Joe Nathan 242 376.2 2004 2009 29-34 369 0 0 0 323 21 11 .656 215 246 81 76 104 459 1.82 22 1466 15 6 0 16 MIN .184 .245 .276 .521 48 10 6 50 4 19 22 4 0 2 Mariano Rivera 220 401.2 2004 2009 34-39 366 0 0 0 332 26 22 .542 214 312 98 90 70 385 2.02 21 1582 10 22 0 2 NYY .211 .256 .287 .543 54 5 5 36 7 33 22 9 0 3 Francisco Rodrigu 209 393.2 2004 2009 22-27 377 0 0 0 300 16 16 .500 224 271 109 93 178 515 2.13 23 1622 16 5 1 36 ANA-LAA-NYM .191 .282 .290 .572 65 10 7 64 4 15 32 5 1 4 Billy Wagner 199 313.2 2004 2008 32-36 301 0 0 0 258 13 8 .619 160 222 94 76 79 372 2.18 28 1242 8 11 1 12 PHI-NYM .195 .252 .301 .553 47 6 5 31 3 17 21 8 2 5 B.J. Ryan 174 310 2004 2009 28-33 297 0 0 0 198 10 18 .357 114 232 95 88 127 382 2.55 19 1279 17 8 1 12 BAL-TOR .205 .289 .292 .581 65 8 6 31 5 20 25 7 3 6 Roger Clemens 162 638 2004 2007 41-44 102 101 1 0 0 44 24 .647 0 508 213 190 201 573 2.68 42 2587 11 18 1 18 HOU-NYY .218 .284 .324 .608 61 24 14 94 13 47 60 20 4 7 Johan Santana 155 1236 2004 2009 25-30 182 182 9 6 0 94 44 .681 0 990 427 391 288 1286 2.85 138 4931 8 24 4 36 MIN-NYM .217 .266 .360 .626 77 31 16 200 22 65 26 29 12 8 Justin Duchschere 154 395.2 2004 2008 26-30 210 22 1 1 61 29 22 .569 14 329 134 123 102 303 2.80 38 1592 14 16 1 7 OAK .227 .283 .349 .632 68 14 9 50 7 33 22 9 6 9 Francisco Cordero 153 379.2 2004 2009 29-34 381 0 0 0 316 21 20 .512 203 328 138 128 161 434 3.03 24 1615 10 12 2 12 TEX-TOT-MIL-CIN .233 .314 .334 .648 82 19 15 62 4 23 24 9 4 10 Chad Cordero 152 309.2 2004 2008 22-26 293 0 0 0 222 19 14 .576 127 263 111 97 114 280 2.82 38 1307 15 6 1 11 MON-WSN .225 .296 .365 .661 77 12 8 43 3 14 6 7 0
It ain't even close, and it's Joe Nathan. He's also nearly tops in saves over that period, edged out by K-rod. The list is rounded out by not one, but two Corderos.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
i was only thinking of starting pitchers, and my guess was Johan Santana, and technically was right, because i'd set the innings at 162*6 seasons, or 972 innings pitched. 🙂
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I don't follow your logic on why you chose "to weed out some guys like Papelbon who haven’t been in the league since 2004". Roger Clemens did not pitch in the majors on 2008 but you chose to include him. Like Papelbon, he missed an entire season in your sample so why include him? If you include Clemens you should include Papelbon. Papelbon has pitched in 5 seasons, 2005 through 2009, Billy Wagner and Justin Duchschere pitched from 2004 to 2008, also 5 season each, and you saw fit to include them. I think you really need to include Papelbon here or leave out Clemens, Wagner and Duchschere.
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Calm down. I didn't choose to include or exclude specific guys. I set an innings criteria and those who made it, made it. yeah you can ignore Clemens or other guys on the list who didn't pitch all 5 years if you want. Papelbon, for how impressive he has been, doesn't deserve to be at the top of this particular list because he hasn't done it for 6 seasons yet.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Sure, the arbitrary distinction of 300 innings excludes Mr. Papelbon. But if you go with the arbitrary distinction of "since Jonathan Papelbon started pitching in the majors" -- well, he has the 8th best ERA+ of any pitcher since 2005. The seven men above him have combined for 86 innings (as compared to Papelbon's 260). To make another arbitrary distinction and say "since 2005, with at least 50 IP" -- well, that puts our friend Mr. Papelbon at #1.
Andy -- I think "mjpinciaro" only responded like he did because you opened your post with the statement that your inning criteria was there "to weed out some guys like Papelbon who haven’t been in the league since 2004."
It's always fun to try and prove that someone is or is not the best or the worst or whatever during any given time period simply by choosing criteria to help isolate that player. It's like how Jimmy Rollins was the only player to have 30 doubles, 20 triples, 30 homers and 40 steals in a season. Makes him into a category of one, but it's still just stats.