Who is the World's Best Pitcher?

It would be hard to argue against any of the Top Five as tops in the game, perhaps going down as far as Top Ten, After that it gets a little dicey and spicy. I imagine Matt Cain would have fallen onto this list had he pitched enough recently and maybe Lincecum had he not fallen off a cliff recently.

But "Oh well?  Right?  What are you going to do?  ~;::::::;( )">  ¯\_( )_/¯

Hey, I hear the Reds might be having a garage sale. See how much they're asking for Mike Leake. Hey, and maybe they throw in that Cuban Missile guy Chapman, right? It's not like they're using him much anyway, right? What have you got to lose?  ~;::::::;( )">  ¯\_( )_/¯

from billjamesonline.com

http://www.billjamesonline.com/polls_ratings/starting_pitcher_rankings/



Is Max Scherzer the World’s Best Pitcher?
June 29, 2015

In the 2015 Bill James Handbook, Bill James introduced his new formula to determine the World’s Best Pitcher at any given time. The system is based on Game Scores and weighs positive and negative recent performances more heavily than older performances.

As of the publication of the Handbook, Clayton Kershaw was the No. 1 pitcher in baseball by a substantial margin, and even in the Stat of the Week update from November that reflected Madison Bumgarner’s dominant playoff performance, Kershaw was still well clear of the field.
So far in 2015, Kershaw has been a little less dominant than his usual self. That combined with some excellent pitching performances from some of his peers, one in particular, has radically closed the gap:

World's #1 Starting Pitcher as of 6/29/2015
Rank	Started Season	Pitcher	Current Score
1	1	Clayton Kershaw	585.9
2	4	Max Scherzer	584.6
3	6	Chris Sale	557.7
4	2	Madison Bumgarner	553.8
5	10	Zack Greinke	553.1

Specifically, Max Scherzer has flown up the rankings this year thanks to his 1.79 ERA and his league-leading 9.3 strikeouts per walk. Following his no-hitter, Scherzer has pulled close to even with Kershaw.

Kershaw is still No. 1, but that title is at jeopardy for the first time since June 1, 2014, when Scherzer briefly held the title. Kershaw has been so dominant for so long, that the last starter other than Scherzer to have the title over him is Justin Verlander back in early 2013!

A change could happen as soon as Thursday when Scherzer and the Nationals take on the Braves.
The rankings are updated daily over at Bill James Online."

'via Blog this'


Here's the Top 50 (all aces), Mike Leake makes the list (hint,hint):

World's #1 Starting Pitcher Rankings: CURRENT RANKINGS
Rank	Started Season	Name	Current Score
1	1	Clayton Kershaw	585.9
2	4	Max Scherzer	584.6
3	6	Chris Sale	557.7
4	2	Madison Bumgarner	553.8
5	10	Zack Greinke	553.1
6	3	Felix Hernandez	547.4
7	5	David Price	544.1
8	9	Johnny Cueto	531.1
9	8	Cole Hamels	529.5
10	13	Corey Kluber	520.3
11	7	Jon Lester	504.8
12	45	Chris Archer	501.0
13	55	Dallas Keuchel	500.9
14	29	Francisco Liriano	499.8
15	42	Sonny Gray	499.2
16	12	Jordan Zimmermann	498.4
17	11	Adam Wainwright	493.3
18	20	Lance Lynn	489.2
19	17	James Shields	488.9
20	38	Yovani Gallardo	482.7
21	18	Jeff Samardzija	481.7
22	58	Shelby Miller	480.4
23	62	Jason Hammel	477.0
24	16	R.A. Dickey	476.9
25	63	Jake Arrieta	476.3
26	26	Phil Hughes	474.9
27	53	A.J. Burnett	474.9
28	94	Jacob Degrom	473.4
29	27	Jose Quintana	470.7
30	15	Jered Weaver	470.6
31	47	Dan Haren	468.6
32	52	Wei-Yin Chen	468.0
33	34	John Lackey	467.5
34	14	Stephen Strasburg	466.9
35	43	Anibal Sanchez	465.8
36	22	Gio Gonzalez	465.3
37	48	Tyson Ross	465.0
38	82	Gerrit Cole	464.7
39	49	Edinson Volquez	464.2
40	40	Mark Buehrle	463.6
41	70	Ubaldo Jimenez	459.4
42	41	Miguel Gonzalez	459.2
43	57	C.J. Wilson	458.0
44	19	Doug Fister	455.8
45	71	Clay Buchholz	453.7
46	46	Mike Leake	453.1
47	24	Chris Tillman	451.3
48	88	Scott Kazmir	450.7
49	31	Julio Teheran	447.8
50	50	Wade Miley	447.5

Cardinals flying high and first class under Matheny

If Bochy isn't the best manger in the NL , then this guy is IMO, and a class act to boot. Year after year, this team produces. They are resilient and resourceful. After the Dodgers, this is the team I most like to see the Giants beat, but for the right reasons -- because they are so darned good.

Apologies to Joe Maddon, who I still consider an AL manager until he gets either a full year under his belt in the NL or makes a playoff appearance, in which case he will be the Mayor of Chicago.

from mlb.com
http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article/133350366/cardinals-among-fastest-to-50-wins-in-history

"Forgive me, but I really don't know how to respond to it because the message that we're giving inside [the clubhouse] is that it's way too early to be looking at records," Matheny said. "We can't deny [the significance] when you start looking at some things that teams have or have not done in this organization in the past, and you have to be able to respect the fact that not many have been able to get to 50 [this quickly]. So we're not completely oblivious to it, but we're also not spending a lot of time on it. I think it's kind of a distraction for what we have to do next."

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Former Giants Prospect Giving Up Catching Over Health Risks

Tommy Joseph was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft.(USATSI)

You can call me a "worry-wart" all you want, I worry about the Giants facing this with Posey some day and with Susac's development, I'm not sure why you continue taking the risk too much longer. 

from Bleacher Report:

Former Giants Prospect Giving Up Catching Over Health Risks:

The Phillies have lost a catching prospect, but possibly gained a first base prospect.

After suffering several concussions behind the plate, Tommy Joseph is officially being converted from catcher to first base. He began working out at the position on Saturday.

“He’s not going to catch going forward,” said Joe Jordan, the team’s director of player development. “We’re not going to expose him to that type of risk.

“Tommy is very excited about the move and anxious to get back on the field playing again.”

Joseph, 23, is a former second-round pick of the San Francisco Giants. He joined the Phillies in the summer of 2012 as the centerpiece in the trade that sent Hunter Pence to the Giants. Joseph immediately became the Phillies’ top catching prospect, but a concussion and a wrist injury that required surgery limited his playing time the last two seasons.

'via Blog this'

Joe Panik - Baseball Reference.com

Looking for statistical evidence that would point to the dreaded "sophomore slump" for Joe Panik, because that's just what you're supposed to do these days.Nobody can just simply pass the eyeball test.

Good news, I didn't find any. I suspect the same will hold true for Matt Duffy and Andrew Susac, but for now both of those guys merely pass the eyeball test.

Panik is at the 500 AB mark combined over two half season, so we should know what we have here.
Welcome to the club, Joe!!


from Baseball-Reference.com

Joe Panik Batting Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

				Joe Panik Batting Statistics and History | Baseball-Refe... Standard Batting Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards 2011 20 SFG-min A-,Fal 96...
				View on www.baseball-referenc...	Preview by Yahoo

Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1st round (29th pick) of the 2011 amateur draft.
Signed June 11, 2011. (All Transactions)
Debut: June 21, 2014 (Age 23.234, 18,273rd in MLB history) 
Rookie Status: Exceeded rookie limits during 2014 season [*] 
Team: Giants 2014-2015
2015 Contract Status: Signed thru 2015, 1 yr/$523k (15) (details) [*]
Service Time (01/2015): 0.100, Arb Eligible: 2018, Free Agent: 2021 [*], 

 from Baseball-Reference.com

http://m.bbref.com/m?p=XXplayersXXpXXpanikjo01-bat.shtml&t=all_standard_batting

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2014	23	SFG	NL	73	287	269	31	82	10	2	1	18	0	0	16	33	.305	.343	.368	.711	106	99	4	0	1	1	0	4	RoY-6
2015	24	SFG	NL	74	319	281	39	87	20	2	6	30	3	2	30	37	.310	.379	.459	.838	138	129	5	3	2	3	0	*4
2 Yrs				147	606	550	70	169	30	4	7	48	3	2	46	70	.307	.362	.415	.776	123	228	9	3	3	4	0
162 Game Avg.				162	668	606	77	186	33	4	8	53	3	2	51	77	.307	.362	.415	.776	123	251	10	3	3	4	0

Joe Panik - m.bbref.com

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	Rbat	Rbaser	Rdp	Rfield	Rpos	RAA	WAA	Rrep	RAR	WAR	waaWL%	162WL%	oWAR	dWAR	oRAR	Salary	Pos	Awards
2014	23	SFG	NL	73	287	1	1	1	-2	2	3	0.2	9	12	1.1	.504	.502	1.4	-0.1	14		4	RoY-6
2015	24	SFG	NL	74	319	14	-2	1	2	2	16	1.7	10	26	2.7	.524	.511	2.5	0.4	24		*4
2 Seasons				147	606	15	-1	2	0	4	19	1.9	19	38	3.8	.514	.506	3.9	0.3	39

 http://m.bbref.com/m?p=XXplayersXXpXXpanikjo01-bat.shtml&t=all_advanced_batting

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	PA	Outs	RC	RC/G	AIR	BAbip	BA	lgBA	OBP	lgOBP	SLG	lgSLG	OPS	lgOPS	OPS+	OWn%	BtRuns	BtWins	TotA	SecA	ISO	PwrSpd
2014	23	SFG	NL	287	193	34	4.7	89	.343	.305	.248	.343	.311	.368	.383	.711	.694	106	.553	2.1	0.2	.602	.123	.063	.0
2015	24	SFG	NL	319	206	50	6.5	91	.336	.310	.252	.379	.313	.459	.392	.838	.704	138	.678	16.1	1.6	.811	.260	.149	4.0
2 Yrs				606	399	84	5.6	90	.340	.307	.250	.362	.312	.415	.387	.776	.699	123	.624	18.2	1.8	.709	.193	.107	4.2
162 Game Avg.				668	440	93	5.6	90	.340	.307	.250	.362	.312	.415	.387	.776	.699	123	.624	20	2	.709	.193	.107	5

Joe Panik - m.bbref.com

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	BtRuns	BtWins	Plays	WPA	WPA+	WPA-	aLI	WPA/LI	Clutch	RE24	REW	boLI	RE24/boLI	PHlev	AB
2014	23	SFG	NL	1.4	0.1	291	0.1	4.5	-4.5	.95	-0.2	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.98	-0.5	1.13	6
2015	24	SFG	NL	16.1	1.6	326	1.4	6.4	-5.0	1.02	1.0	0.3	8.6	0.9	0.98	9.6	3.22	2
2 Yrs				17.4	1.8	617	1.5	10.9	-9.5	.99	0.8	0.6	8.6	0.9	0.98	9.1	1.65	8

Joe Panik - m.bbref.com

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	PA	HR%	SO%	BB%	XBH%	X/H%	SO/W	AB/SO	AB/HR	AB/RBI	GB/FB	GO/AO	IP%	LD%	HR/FB	IF/FB
2014	23	SFG	NL	287	0.4%	11.5%	5.6%	4.5%	16%	2.06	8.2	269.0	14.9	1.08	1.24	82%	26%	1.1%	17%
2015	24	SFG	NL	319	1.9%	11.6%	9.4%	8.8%	32%	1.23	7.6	46.8	9.4	0.76	0.94	76%	28%	4.8%	10%
2 Yrs				606	1.2%	11.6%	7.6%	6.8%	24%	1.52	7.9	78.6	11.5	0.90	1.08	79%	27%	3.2%	13%
MLB Averages					2.4%	20.3%	7.6%	7.2%	32%	2.67	4.4	38.3	8.8	0.85	1.11	68%	25%	7.1%	13%

• Available Stats Tables

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone