Pettitte and Clemens - the 2nd coming of Clyde and Hakeem?

You should write for "The Guiding Light". I'm touched. Truly.

 

Well, possibly the fact that Clyde and Hakeem were hall-of-famers at or near the primes of their careers.

Clemens is well past his, and Pettite isn't really a HoFer.

 

Pettitte is the product of a good offense...wake up folkd...a 3.90 ERA is not taking us anywhere...without better run support...and that's what it comes down to, winning games....sure he's a big game pitcher...but if we don't GET to big games, where does that leave us?

 

Come on... I said he wasn't HoF material, but he's better than that. The Yankees infield makes ours look like Gold Glove central. For a pitcher who throws that many ground balls, that adds a substantially bit to his ERA (I've seen estimates as high as .5... I find that hard to believe, but it did hurt him).

He's also leaving the AL and the toughest division in baseball. That'll reduce his ERA further.

I predict, barring injuries/anomalies... and ERA of around 3.5 or so. Which would be just fine by me. A bit overpaid, but not by too much.

 

Only time will tell, but i will add these advantages Pettitte has:

There is no DH in the National League. That's a couple extra strikeouts a game for Pettitte and a lower ERA.

The players in the NL have never really seen Pettitte pitch before, this means he should be able to roll right over teams the first time he faces them.

Pettitte is playing in a much easier league now, IMO. He doesn't have to face the RedSox, Mariners, and A's and Angels anymore.

He may not win 20 games this year, but i'd bet the house on it that his era is in the neighborhood of 3.5.

Another thing i like is we finally have a pitcher who can throw a complete game!

 

My Answer: Sure there's no DH, but that means Pettitte will have to bat, leading to less run support. This sword cuts both ways...

Pettite has never faced Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Vladimir Guerrero (who knows where he'll end up though), Shawn Green, Luis Gonzalez, etc. Even though he'll have a strikeout every 9 at-bats, remember that the other 8 players are more talented by avg than the first 8 of the AL.

Simple math:

NL: X amount of talent divided by 8 hitters' spots.
AL: X amount of talent divided by 9 hitters' spots.

Besides, the hitters haven't faced him, but he hasn't faced the hitters, either. Again, double edged sword...

Much easier division definately, but lot tougher ballpark.

I'll bet the house you're wrong...Pettitte will either be extremely effective or not at all. Except some sort of change one way or the other from his Yankee's stats. Why? New league, meaning either the hitters will be befuddled by his pitching, or he will not have enough data on the hitters to pitch intelligently (there's the Brad Ausmus factor to consider of course).

Good discussion we're having here tho...

 

Just got this off of fanball, check it out:

Not a bad stat line...who cares what his ERA is as long as he wins games right?

 

Without run support? Dude what team are you talking about? The Astros had the 9th best offense in all of baseball, and the 4th best in the NL.