Quote:
Originally Posted by Seven
I think he gets the surgery (assuming it's Tommy John) and see's how his recovery goes before making a decision on the future of his career. In terms of how'd I rank him? Probably somewhere in the Schilling/Glavine/Mussina range. I think at his peak he was a force to be reckoned with, much like Pedro Martinez, but he's clearly on the decline and he won't pitch to see the back end of his thirties.
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I dunno I like the Pedro comparison more, Nothing against the other three you mentioned, but none of them were the consensus greatest pitcher in the game for several years. I guess I'm not as hung up on longevity. You can't be a one year wonder or even a couple year fluke, but he's only had one season since 2011 that he didn't finish top 10 in Cy Young voting. That's pretty damn sustained excellence in my book. you can't find many pitchers who got Cy young votes in 9 different seasons, let alone over a 10 year span!
Schilling received Cy Young votes 4x
Glavine 6x
Mussina 9x over 17 years and only once higher than 4th
Even Pedro only received votes 7x, though like Kershaw he won 3x (though Kershaw was robbed the year they gave it to Dickey.)
Even this year he had three disaster starts and his FIP is under 3.00 for the first time in several years, so his 3.55 ERA is a little unlucky. His K rate was back up over 10 even though his velocity was topping out at 91-92 and he wasn't walking anyone as usual. Hey I'm a Dodger homer, I get it, but I just don't think you are giving his body of work the credit it deserves.
I have Pedro in my top 5 all time and to me he and Kershaw are a very apt comparison with incredibly similar career numbers.
Oh and Kershaw is the Live Ball era Career leader in ERA among starters. WAY ahead of Whitey Ford in 2nd. In an era of rampant scoring he's the greatest at not allowing runs to score. Isn't that a pitcher's job? Or if he's just supposed to keep guys off the bases? He's the greatest live ball era starter in WHIP also.