Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards
I would point out that Kershaw is the live ball era career leader in both WHIP and ERA in an era of high scoring.
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I think there is a fine, good-faith argument for Kershaw. I think he falls well short, because the greatest of all time is a combination of 1) how good he was and 2) how long he was good. Kershaw has not had a long career at this point in time, even by the standards of pitchers today he's missed a lot of time. On the other hand, he has aged well as his velocity declines and while he isn't the dominator he was, he may have several good seasons left. He could end up #1 when all is said and done. Active players are very difficult to rank because at age 33, to make Kershaw #1 we have to assume the future, which I don't think is reasonable.
If we'd like to count him, Kershaw is #1 and Reb Russell is #2.
I'd rather have grove for 4,000 innings than Kershaw for 2,500 Innings. Kershaw's best is on par or possibly even better than Grove's best, but not by the margin to cover this huge gap in my eyes.