Quote:
Originally Posted by G1911
There is a decent argument that Pedro Martinez is the greatest peak value pitcher in baseball history.
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You know who we all forgot and who had an ever better single season as a pitcher than Martinez?
In 1972: 12.1 WAR, 27 wins, 1.97 ERA, 41 games started and
30 complete games, 8 shutouts, 310 strikeouts. For a 6th place team that only won 59 games.
Peak WAR on Martinez was 11.7. He appeared in 31 games (29 started) in 2000, completed 7 (4 shutouts).
We are just never again going to see workhorse numbers like the 1960s-1970s pitchers, except maybe from a knuckleball pitcher. That cuts both ways in the argument. Is Pedro better because he worked 25% less than Carlton, or is Carlton better because he sustained his excellence with that workload? Same issue with Koufax-Johnson. Discuss.