Saturday, February 18, 2017

I'm Just A Grumpy Old Man!

You're telling me this isn't Goose Gossage?

Let me get this out of the way...

Just because you say you don't mean any disrespect, it doesn't mean you aren't being disrespectful.
NJ.com: So when people say Mo is the great reliever ….
Gossage. “(Bleep). That’s [expletive].
Goose says that it's insulting to be compared to Mariano Rivera, seeing as how he'd regularly pitch three innings per outing, whereas Rivera and Chapman generally only throw one inning per outing. Honestly, it's a fair point. Comparing closers during Goose's era with the closers of today is very difficult. You run into the same problems when comparing hitters of today with hitters of 30+ years ago. The game is quite different now. And we'll run into that problem when comparing hitters like Mike Trout of today to the American League MVP of the 2047 season.

But when you make comments like Gossage did, you're also making assumptions. You're assuming Mariano Rivera, Aroldis Chapman, and others couldn't be effective if they regularly threw three innings at a time.

You may be right, you may be wrong. However, you'll never know so what's the point?

I tell you what I do know though... some stats. And I won't use the counting stats, because they are so dependent on how much one plays or pitches. Let's look at percentage stats.

Goose Gossage's career ERA was 3.01, his WHIP was 1.232, and he did that while averaging 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings and 3.6 walks per nine.

Mariano Rivera's career ERA was 2.21, his WHIP was 1.000, and he did that while averaging 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.0 walks per nine.

So make all the assumptions you want about Mo throwing more than one inning during most outings, but to disrespect what he's done and to feel insulted by being compared to him is downright dumb.

9 comments:

  1. The game has evolved. Goose just hasn't evolved with it. It was great that he could pitch 2 or 3 innings at a time. Wonderful that he had over 1,800 innings pitched during the course of his career. But with the game on the line in the bottom of the 9th, I'll take Mo in his prime over Goose any day. Heck, I'd take the 43-year-old Mo over Goose at any point of his career if I need a game winning save.

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely.

      And I say that without taking anything away from what Goose did. The fact is we're talking about Mariano freakin' Rivera.

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  2. I think the Grumpy Old Man might be Randy Levine...

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    Replies
    1. Randy Levine needs a to STFU. If I was DB I would request a meeting with the ELF and tell him that when my three years re up I am out of here and when I leave you will no its because Randy Levine is a schmuck

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    2. Agreed. Randy Levine needs to drink bleach. Extreme? Sure, but you know what they say about extreme measures.

      Delete
  3. I know you people expect this but here we go anyhow...
    There is a good comparison between Goose and Mo. Both were in the same class at different times.
    Numbers, everyone goes to the numbers ok, let's do that. Mo has better numbers right?
    Mo only pitched 1 inning at a time and no more than two days in a row. His last three years he was going every other day or so. IF (conjecture), he had to go more than one inning at a time, his numbers would have been about the same as Gooses.
    Mo was not a big guy and would get wore out going more innings, two or three days in a row as Goose did.
    Having seen both, as some of you have also, each had what it takes to make them two of the best, joining a few others in that same class of..."the Best of the Best"!

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)