metsmarathon

i keep trying to talk myself into that one, too, with sean manaea along for the ride.

seaver was tops from 67-76 thru 70-79, so four such decades, and was top five in four others for eight total. jack morris placed 2nd in 79-88, and was also 3rd in 80-89, 4th in 82-91, and 5th in both 78-87 and 83-92. bert blyleven, on the other hand, was 1st three times from 71-80 thru 73-82, and was top five in eight others for thirteen total. yeah... it should not have taken 14 years for him to get voted into the hall. clemens showed up the most, as far as i can tell, fifteen times. that son of a bitch.

here's a fun question... if a player was the best pitcher in the league over a 10-year period, meaning, topping the cumulative WAR leaderboard for a period of 10 consecutive seasons, would you think that player sufficiently good to be considered a hall of famer? ten years is a long time. and to be the top performer at a position over that decade...? wow, right? and... it also accounts for shifts in usage and gameplay and all that because instead of comparing, say, roy oswalt to pud galvin, you're looking at gooden vs clemens vs maddux, etc. for the record, the current leader in this regard is max scherzer, with 47 fWAR from 2015-2024. pretty darned good! in fact, if we look at the top five, we'll see the following names in order: Cole, DeGrom, Kershaw, Sale. not a bad group! i dare say, the logic tracks. 1957-66? boom sandy koufax. 67-76? lookie there, tom seaver. 1900-09? cy young. i could go on... anyways... if i brute force it and look at some 10-year periods in the middles of their careers... what do you think i find? well, if i look at the number on e guy for each 10 year period from 1980-89 thru 2015-24, i get the following names: max scherzer (4x 12-21:15-24) clayton kershaw (5x 07-16:11-20) . . roy halladay (3x 01-10:03-12) randy johnson (7x 93-02:95-04 ; 97-06:00-09) pedro martinez (1x 96-05) greg maddux (4x 89-98:92-01) roger clemens (7x 82-91:88-97) nolan ryan (2x 80-89:81-90) these all look like clear hall of famers, antics and PEDs aside. who could possibly question those names, right? oh.. right. the gap. sorry. felix hernandez (2x 05-14:06-15) cc sabathia (1x 04-13) felix was also in the top five in four other decades: (#4 04-13, #3 07-16, #4 08-17, & #5 09-18) cc was top five in five other decades (#3 01-10, #2 02-11, #2 03-12, #4 05-14, & #4 06-15) it is very rare for non hall-of-famers to appear in this list. notable players with repeat appearances include kevin brown (6) bret saberhagen and dwight gooden (5) and roy oswalt (4) i'm certainly tempted to look at earlier dates, but i do have a life. i'll consider adding to my table in the future. but the point is, that it would be a noteworthy omission to consider the best pitcher for a given decade to be NOT a hall of famer. moreso to do it twice. it's worth stating that i was not expecting the results to be quite so stark. i'm half-tempted to expand my research into other positions around the diamond. but again, that takes time and effort.

i voted for ichiro, cc, and felix. ichiro is a slam dunk. cc is a little harder, and felix is a stretch, or maybe not. but hear me out. felix had a great start to his career, and then was felled by injuries and overuse. fangraphs says he topped out at 54 WAR. that's damned good. he hit 50 WAR by 28. that's phenomenal! if he quit at 30, due to a catastrophic injury, he'd sail in. instead he stuck around and tried to make it work until it couldnt. and that hurts his case. cc stuck around a bit longer, figured out how to be effective after injury changed him, finishing with 65 WAR. that's 10 more than sale, 20 more than cole or degrom, 30 more than wheeler, nola. if cc isn't a hall of famer, then after verlander, kershaw, grienke, and scherzer get in, we may never induct another starter into the hall of fame. maybe sale, or maybe cole, if either of them can stick around for a long time, but that's gonna be it. for a while. are we really, truly, about to enter a time when there are no future hall of fame starters plying their trade? i don't think so. i think the scale needs adjusting. i was tempted to vote pedroia, because a vote for pedroia is a vote for wright. they have very, very similar hof cases overall. i think they're both just short, but not by too terribly much. they both should get in (along with felix) via the (imaginary) puckett clause.

**** it. I’ll give it an 8 as well. Ack ack!

ok, what the hell. i'll play.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I can't say no to this shit ever, I'm in. ditto. me too.

That could also mean that his body may not already be being pushed beyond its natural limits… but also means that he wouldnt have as ready access to magical healing elixirs.

i'm hoping to build on my yahoo championship and pull some of that magic (or just plain dumb luck) into revitalizing my awful otto pitching staff.

i thought for SURE i would **** it up. it's rather unlike me not to. if only i could've mounted a similar surge in ottoneu...

don't worry. i can squander it all. i have the ability to do it!

i'm paying attention. it's all i got, aside from a futile hope of being somewhere in the scrum of a distant second place for ottoneu, if my pitching ever stops sucking. (ahem sandy)

ok, there's still one open slot. (it'd be nice if it alerts you that you've already got a team in a league when you sign up through a link)

shit. i'm double dipping. i'll abandon the new one.

yay, league filled. now, for draft prep!

i gotta get around to seeing it...

ugh... i'd love it if teams could start throwing people on the 60-day IL already!!!

yeah, he's mine. sad trumpets...

aw man... does this mean i need to join - gasp! - a random yahoo league!?

murder hornets wasn't one of us, was it? if so, renew thyself, dangit! please.

I'm IN, and have arbitrated. i have a sneaky suspicion mohawk red flyers might not be coming back...

Yay, third place. By a smidge. But I think my team is in pretty good shape for next year. Especially since I don't have moncada and giolito dragging me down anymore! Hope all y'all cranepoolers come back for next year!

nah, i deserve the loss, simply for choosing, of all my other possible pitchers, to sit him the day before his next start, and failing to doublecheck it. or, quadruple-check it. i did it to myself, basically. nice to know that i was good enough to win, but too stupid to pull it off LOL. i didn't think i'd have a chance in hell of even getting close after the first day. so it's a moral victory. and i'm also wishing our fantasy season continued through the end of the regular, because it's way too early to only have one league (otto) left to pay attention to.

well, you can't win the league if you sit your ace. congrats seo! amazing playoff run!

well... that's annoying. despite having had set my lineup (and checked it a few times) for today, apparently, yahoo saw fit to leave sandy alcantara and wade miley on the bench on the bench today. coulda been a 5-5 tie going into the last day. oh well... that's what i get for trusting that my set lineup would stay there...