Quote:
Originally Posted by freakhappy
Maybe it's just me, but I am unbiased when it comes to any player...I just don't see elite when I see Cain pitch.
He had his best overall year this year...therefore I believe he overachieved. Maybe he's going to be better from this year moving forward, but he was never great, but more of a good pitcher. You can say what you want about wins and losses and run support, but Felix never gets run support and he's considered elite. Until this year, no one would really think of comparing Cain with Felix...I still don't. Cain was more of a 6 inning, 5-7 strikeout kinda guy until this year. He has career numbers of 85-78 in the win loss column...run support or not, the Giants haven't been a bad team since he's been there. He's never deserved to be a #1 guy until this year....hence the overachieve label.
Edited to add: Anthony, I just noticed you're from San Francisco...your post makes a lot more sense now. And good luck to the Giants...should be a great series.
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The Giants haven't had a bad team since he's been there? He came up in 2005. His first four years the Giants were:
2005 75-87
2006 76-85
2007 71-91 last in the NL West
2008 70-92 last in the NL West
His record over those 4 years was 30-43. He was also ages 20-23 during those years.
Since then (starting in 2009) he's 55-35. Over the same time period Lincecum is 54-46.
The Giants have had the worst or close to the worst offense in each of these past 4 years. in 2011 Cain had 21 starts in which he allowed 2 runs or less. He only got 12 wins, because the Giants couldn't score (especially after Posey broke his ankle in early May).
Cain was the Giants #1 starter, statistically, in 2007, 2010, and 2012. During two of the three years he wasn't the Giants #1 starter, he was the Giants #2 starter, and the Giants #1 starter (Lincecum) won 2 Cy Young awards. One thing Cain has been over the past 4 years is extremely consistent. This year wasn't an aberration, and his stats bear that out.
Is he is good as Verlander or Hernandez? No. Is he a damn good pitcher who has been a damn good pitcher for quite a while, yes. And he'll take the ball 32-34 times a year, as he's done every year for 7 straight years, and you'll never find a dead hooker in the trunk of his car.