[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

Stop with all the "failed starter" BS. He got all of 10 chances at the major league level. The very next year he was a full time reliever and finished 3rd in Cy Young Award voting as a relief pitcher despite only getting 5 saves. Once you have that type of success in the bullpen, you aren't going to be stretched back out to become a starter again the next season (except in rare situations).

I always think about how dominant John Smoltz was as a reliever in the early 2000s and thinking, why did Atlanta move him back to the starting rotation. But he was amazing there too. The best starters are often pitching at 85-90% at the beginning of a game and then they bring it up a notch when the going gets tough and then they start registering some ridiculous numbers on the radar gun, despite being fatigued. The reliever has to be 95-100% the entire time they are out there. It's impossible to adequately compare the two.

I'm in agreement with most. Greatest reliever of all time and probably top 20 pitcher of all time. His post-season stats are lights out and can't be ignored in the context of evaluating his entire career.

Well put.