Curveballs and Sliders 05.01.08: Top 25 Pitchers of the Last 25 Years
Posted by Jared Marcus on 05.01.2008
This week in a very special edition of Curveballs and Sliders we unveil the Top 25 Pitchers of the Last 25 Years. As a bonus we will also rank numbers 26-50 and reveal the all-time lineups and rotations for the teams of the AL West!!
LEADING OFF
Hello all and welcome to a very special edition of Curveballs and Sliders. This week we present a special feature looking back at the greatest pitchers of the last 25 years. All the rules and explanations are featured below, but before we get to that let's first take a quick look back at the last column.
Pooley (Guest) writes There is no way Ben Sheets doesn't make the All star team this year...
Hey Pooley, thanks for commenting. And let me just say, there is a way, it's called the DL. I know Sheets has been great so far, but I couldn't put him on the all-star team until he proves that he can stay healthy for three months. Lo and behold, just days after that column was posted, Sheets went down with triceps injury and missed a week. He did come right back and pitch well, but it remains to be seen how many starts he can make between now and July. Hopefully he stays healthy and you are proved correct, but again, he certainly hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt. Thanks again for commenting Pooley, keep coming back!
Luis (Guest) writes It scares me that AJ Burnett is the 3rd best Marlins SP of all time, and he
isn't even the 3rd best pitcher on his current team.
Yeah, you and me both Luis. Though the Marlins aren't doing too bad, despite that lack of pitching they have won two World Championships in ten years, more than many teams in multiple decades. As far as the Jays go, you are 100% correct. In fact, as of right now he is clearly the fifth best starter on the team, and the only weak link in a solid rotation. Roy Halladay, Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch are all outperforming him by a good ways, Burnett is going to have to right his ship sooner rather than later for the Jays to keep pace in the division. Luis thanks for commenting, I appreciate it, keep coming back!
Fellow 411'er Gavin Napier writes
As a fan, couldn't resist my chance to get in on this action. Here's my two cents:
MGR: Bobby Cox
C: Joe Torre. Probably the best consistently offensive catcher the Braves have ever had, and was solid defensively. Javy would have gotten my vote if he had been able to drive in runs and keep his average up outside of contract years.
1B: Fred McGriff. 150 HR in four and a half years with Atlanta, helped Atlanta overcome San Fran immediately after his acquisition and was arguably the key to winning their only World Series in "the run".
2B: Mark Lemke. Debated a long time here between he and Marcus Giles. Lemke gets the nod over the Doubles Machine for two reasons - longevity at the position and the fact that he hit nearly 30 points higher in the postseason than his career regular season average. Clutch.
3B: Eddie Matthews. Duh. Sorry, Chipper.
SS: Rafael Furcal. Solid leadoff hitter, good speed, reliable glove. Also a relatively weak position historically for Atlanta.
OF1: Hank Aaron. Duh.
OF2: Dale Murphy. Duh.
OF3: Andruw Jones. Duh.
SP: Warren Spahn
SP: Greg Maddux
SP: Tom Glavine
SP: Phil Neikro
SP: Lew Burdette
CP: John Smoltz
For starters Gavin, I just want to apologize for not responding to the e-mail when it was initially sent about a month ago. I honestly did not want to read it before I got a chance to do the Braves on my own for fear of being influenced. Not that influence is a bad thing, of course you know more about the Braves then I do and that will be quite clear when we compare our selections in just a minute. I just didn't want to have any biases is what I should say, and I wanted to go through the process on my own first. But now that I have done the Braves and reviewed your selections, I do see that I made several errors (which means it's probably the case for other teams as well, so please get your comments in about your hometown team when I post their all-time lineup/rotation).
I selected Del Crandall as the catcher, which isn't a bad choice, but Joe Torre clearly should get the nod. Torre was a much better player than he gets credit for and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame as a player as well as a manager. His best seasons as a catcher were with the Braves, both in Milwaukee and Atlanta, and he should be their all-time catcher.
First Base is a great example of how you can only do so much with numbers as a non-fan compared to actually knowing your team's history as a fan. Joe Adcock tops McGriff in every category because he played so many more seasons with the team. However, as Gavin points out, McGriff's four seasons were actually much more valuable and more impactful as they actually led to a championship, making him the better choice for first base.
At second and short I am going to stick with my selections of Bobby Lowe and the Hall of Famer Rabbit Maranville over Gavin's as obviously Gavin was speaking mostly from first hand experience rather than going back 100 years, which makes more sense, but hey, what can I say, don't ever underestimate what a tremendous loser I am.
We agreed on the Manager, Third Basemen and all three Outfielders as they were fairly obvious choices. We also agreed on the first three starters, which were also very clear selections. Gavin chose to use Smoltzy as closer to open up a slot in the rotation for Phil Niekro, which is probably what I should have done, but I wanted to honor Smoltz as a starter because he often doesn't get his due compared to those other Braves pitchers. I didn't want to make it seem like he only made the team as a closer rather than a starter, but he probably was the best closer in team history too as Gene Garber leaves a lot to be desired. That leaves only Lew Burdette versus Kid Nichols, and you could go either way on that one. Kid Nichols was the better pitcher and a Hall of Famer, but then again, who really knows, he pitched two centuries ago.
Gavin, thanks again for the comments and sorry again about the delay in response, I just had to do it that way. But of course, I always love getting feedback from you and here your opinions on the Braves, so write back anytime.
That will do it for the feedback, now let's move on to the Main Event .from Venice Beach, California, weighing in at 303 lbs ..ohh wait, this isn't Wrestlemania III, it's Curveballs and Sliders, onto the real Main Event, the Top 25 Pitchers of the Last 25 Years ..
THE TWO HOLE
Ok, now it's time for some real fun. My all-time favorite thing to do in this column is make all-time lists and I have not really done a big one since I made my return. So I thought this week is as good as any to do one.
A few years ago I wrote a column about the best pitcher of the last 20 years and at that time I determined that you couldn't award that title to anyone other than Roger Clemens, as despite the fact that there were steroid rumors surrounding him, no strong evidence had been presented. Well now, in light of all the new Clemens steroid info, I thought it was a perfect time to revisit the topic, but this time taking it to another level. Back then the column was mostly focusing on the top 4 pitchers of the last 20 years and how they should rank, as well as a list of the top 10.
For anyone who wishes to check out the original column you can do so HERE
Ok, so now lets move on to the new list. This ranking is going to be different from the original in several ways. For starters we are going to be ranking 50 pitchers rather than 10, so that's a big difference in itself.
Second, the rules have changed a bit. Here are the rules from the original rankings done two years ago:
1) To qualify for the list a pitcher must have at least 150 career wins.
2) Pitchers must have a career winning percentage of .500 or better
3) Pitchers had to accrue at least half their wins from 1985 on. (i.e. Pitchers like Nolan Ryan and Bert Blyleven who were still effective into the late 80's are not eligible because the majority of their success came prior to 1985)
Most of those rules will be thrown out the window this time around. Back then I was trying to make the rankings as simplistic as possible, this time I went the other way and tried to make them as in depth and specific as possible, therefore as accurate as possible too. There are no longer any benchmark (i.e. 150 wins, .500 Win%) requirements to make the list. If you were a great pitcher for five years you will get more consideration than someone who was a decent pitcher for ten. Also, since we are trying to find the absolute best pitchers, relievers have been included this time as well. You cannot tell me that the 25th best starter is better than a Mariano Rivera or Dennis Eckersley, because they aren't. So those guys get their due today.
Another change is that as you can see, originally the timeline went back to 1985 and only players who played the majority of their career after that mark were included. This time we are going back to 1983 (an even 25 years since we are not counting stats accumulated so far in 2008) and including only statistics compiled since 1983. In other words, rather than taking the entire career of Jack Morris since he played more of it in post 1983 than pre-1983 and not taking any of Nolan Ryan's career since his career was the opposite, we have included both of them in this study and used on the stats they compiled from 1983 on. So don't send in e-mails or post comments complaining that I got Ryan's W-L record wrong, those are only his stats from 1983 on. I actually struggled a lot with this decision as I wasn't sure which way to go, but ultimately decided that this was the most accurate way to find the best pitchers of the last 25 years. Once you start opening up leeway for guys that pitched beyond that it is hard to ever close the door. Though it's also not fair to completely discount guys like Ryan or Blyleven whose best days were already behind them by 1983, yet were still very serviceable starters for quite a while after that.
Lastly, and most importantly, the biggest difference is the amount of statistics and analysis that went into this ranking compared to the original. This was not something that I just slapped together off the top of my head. These rankings take into account all the following statistics, awards and measurements to varying degrees of reward:
Wins, Losses, Winning %, Fibonacci Score, Complete Games, Shutouts, Saves, Innings Pitched, Strikeouts, Strikeouts per 9 innings, ERA, ERA+, Walks, WHIP, Batting Average Against, Playoff Performance, World Series MVP's, LCS MVP's, Cy Young Awards, Cy Young Top 5 Finishes, Cy Young Top 10 Finishes, Cy Young Award Shares, MVP's, MVP Top 10 Finishes, All-Star Games, No-Hitters, Triple Crowns, Gold Gloves, Rolaids Relief Awards, ERA Titles, Win Titles, Strikeout Titles, Saves Titles, Black Ink Test, Gray Ink Test, Hall of Fame Standards and Hall of Fame Monitor. And my thanks to baseball-reference.com for supplying all of that information.
In conclusion, I welcome all opinions and thoughts and am happy to hear from anyone who disagrees or has insightful analysis on why a player should or shouldn't rank where I have them. However, before you feel the need to blindly call me an idiot and say one of my rankings is ridiculous, please keep in mind all of the above categories and the fact that this is the excel formula that I used to formulate these rankings:
I know, I know, I am a loser, and a self-congratulatory one at that. Very, very, true. But I just can't help myself. Anyway, I am sure most of you scrolled down and read the list long ago, but if you actually made it this far, thank you and now as your reward
The Top 25 Pitchers of the Last 25 Years
(Note: All stats are current as of the end of the 2007 season)
QUESTION .Who is the best pitcher of the last 25 years?
Roger Clemens!
FALSE.........Greg Maddux.
1) Greg Maddux 347-214, .619 Win%, 109 CG, 35 SHO, 3273 K, 3.11 ERA, 134 ERA+, 969 BB, 1.14 WHIP, 11 Postseason Wins, 4 Cy Young Awards, 8 All-Star Teams, 17 Gold Gloves
Statistically speaking, Clemens should still rate as the number one pitcher on this list, but at this point there is little doubt about his use of steroids. With that being said, his accomplishments still speak for themselves, and whether or not I like the guy (I do not), is irrelevant. He still deserves a high ranking on the list and since I can not with any great certainty swear that Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez did not juice, I must place Clemens above them on the list. Maddux however, is the one pitcher who is completely clear of controversy. There isn't a person alive that thinks Maddux's stats are artificially inflated, in fact it is the direct opposite. Maddux may have done more with less than any pitcher in history. He never had a blazing fastball and didn't have the movement that any of the other all-time greats on this list had, what he was though, is perhaps the smartest pitcher in baseball history. The John Nash of pitchers if you will. He saw the game in a different way and was able to perfect his craft like no other pitcher ever before him. Over the past 25 years, Maddux ranks second with 347 wins, and will probably rank first by the end of this season. He ranks third in complete games, shutouts and strikeouts, second in innings pitched and second in ERA and WHIP among all pitchers who have thrown at least 2000 innings. In addition Maddux won 15 games or more for 17 straight years, took home 4 Cy Young Awards and earned 17 Gold Gloves, the most of any player in history. That all adds up to a player who is not only the best pitcher of the last 25 years, but now clearly one of the top ten pitchers in baseball history.
2) Roger Clemens 354-184, .658 Win%, 118 CG, 46 SHO, 4672 K, 8.55 K/9, 3.12 ERA, 143 ERA+, 1.17 BB, 12 Postseason Wins, 7 Cy Young Awards, AL MVP, 11 All-Star Teams, 2 Triple Crowns
As I said above, Clemens falls from the top spot due to probable steroid use, but there is still no denying his legendary career which probably still earns him a spot alongside the dozen-or-so greatest pitchers who have ever lived. Since 1983 he ranks first in wins, shutouts, innings, strikeouts, all-star appearances and Cy Young Awards with 7, which of course is an all-time record. He is also the only pitcher in the last 25 years to have won two triple crowns and the only one to have struck out 20 batters in a game on two separate occasions. Additionally he ranks second in shutouts and is second among pitchers with at least 2000 innings in ERA+.
3) Randy Johnson 284-150, .654 Win%, 98 CG, 37 SHO, 4616 K, 10.78 K/9, 3.22 ERA, 137 ERA+, 1.16 WHIP, 7 Postseason Wins, 5 Cy Young Awards, World Series MVP, 10 All-Star Teams, Perfect Game, No-Hitter, Triple Crown
Randy Johnson didn't have his first good season until the fifth full season of his career, when he was already 30 years old. However, once he began he never let up, using the next 15 years to compile not only a Hall of Fame career, but a career that ranks him among the greatest dozen or so pitchers of all-time. Over the past 25 years The Big Unit ranks fourth in wins, third in winning percentage among pitchers with at least 2000 innings, fourth in complete games and second in shutouts. He also ranks second in strikeouts and will most likely be number one by the end of this season. Among starters he is first in K/9 and trails only Pedro Martinez in batting average against. He was not dominant overall in the postseason, but his incredible pitching in the 2001 World Series earned him a share of the MVP award and his five Cy Young's trail only Roger Clemens. Additionally he is one of only three pitchers to make 10 or more all-star teams and to strike out 20 batters in a game, plus he is the only one to have thrown a perfect game and a no-hitter.
4) Pedro Martinez 209-93, .692 Win%, 46 CG, 17 SHO, 3030 K, 10.20 K/9, 2.80 ERA, 160 ERA+, 708 BB, 1.03 WHIP, 6-2 Postseason Record, 3 Cy Young Awards, 8 All-Star Teams, Triple Crown
Pedro was quite simply the most dominating pitcher of the last 25 years and arguably the most dominating of all-time. Pedro is often compared to Sandy Koufax, except that in reality he is better. Koufax had an incredible six year stretch, but was barely average in the other six seasons of his career. Pedro had an even better seven year stretch (the greatest in baseball history) and was much better than Koufax both before and after. Of course this column is about the last 25 years, so that is really irrelevant. What is relevant is that over the past two and half decades Pedro leads all starters in winning percentage, ERA, ERA+ and batting average against. He also ranks second in K/9 and is one of just six pitchers to record 3000 strikeouts despite pitching nearly 800 fewer innings than anyone else on the list. While Pedro is often criticized for his lack of big-time performances, his postseason record is an impressive 6-2. He was also one of only four pitchers to win more than two Cy Young Awards and one of only six to win a Triple Crown.
5) Tom Glavine 303-199, .604 Win%, 56 CG, 25 SHO, 2570 K, 3.51 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 14 Postseason Wins, 2 Cy Young Awards, World Series MVP, 10 All-Star Teams
Glavine isn't nearly as flashy nor was he ever as dominant as the first four names on this list, but for 20 years what he has been is extremely effective. Eighteen times Glavine has recorded double digit victory totals and over the last 25 years only Roger Clemens has had more 20 win seasons than Glavine's five. He ranks third in wins and third in innings pitched. Only John Smoltz has won more postseason games during this span than Glavine and he was also one of only three pitchers to have won multiple Cy Young Awards and a World Series MVP. Plus he was trails only Roger Clemens in all-star appearances with ten.
6) John Smoltz 207-145, .588 Win%, 53 CG, 16 SHO, 154 SV, 2975 K, 7.95 K/9, 3.26 ERA, 127 ERA+, 984 BB, 1.17 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 15-4, 2.65 ERA, 4 SV, Cy Young Award, NLCS MVP, 8 All-Star Teams
After years of being in the shadow of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, Smoltzy has emerged as a likely contender to someday join his former teammates in Cooperstown. Early on Maddux and Glavine were better, but Smoltz has caught up to them by staying great longer and being better later. Additionally he has carved out a Dennis Eckersly type niche for himself thanks to his three and half seasons as a dominant closer. Over the past 25 years Smoltz is the only player with 200 wins and 150 saves and in fact he is the only player in history to do so. Most importantly, Smoltz is unquestionably the best postseason pitcher of the last two and half decades and easily among the greatest of all-time. Is 15 postseason victories rank him first and matched with only his 4 losses he ranks only behind Curt Schilling among starters in winning percentage. His playoff ERA ranks the best considering the number of innings he has thrown and he was named NLCS MVP in 1992.
7) Curt Schilling 216-146, .597 Win%, 83 CG, 20 SHO, 3116 K, 3.46 ERA, 127 ERA+, 711 BB, 1.14 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 8-2, 2.06 ERA, World Series MVP, 6 All-Star Teams
Like Johnson, Schilling didn't really begin to perform like a great pitcher until he was in his 30's. And even then he was a very good pitcher for a bad Phillies team, resulting in a lot of mediocre records. Then he really hit his stride with Arizona finishing second in the Cy Young voting three times in four seasons. Aside from that, he was very durable for a long time and also very consistent. Over the past 25 years he ranks in the top ten of most pitching categories and in the top five of complete games and strikeouts. Also, he is just a notch below John Smoltz as the top big game pitcher of the era. His 8-2 record is tops among all starters in terms of winning percentage and his ERA trails only Mariano Rivera among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 postseason innings. He is also one of only four pitchers to take home a World Series and LCS MVP.
8) Mariano Rivera 62-44, .585 Win%, 443 SV, 857 K, 8.09 K/9, 2.35 ERA, 194 ERA+, 1.05 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 8-1, .80 ERA, 34 SV, World Series MVP, ALCS MVP, 8 All-Star Teams, 4 Rolaids Relief Awards
Rivera is far and away the greatest closer of the last 25 years and most likely also the greatest of all-time. He ranks third in Saves and first among all full-time relievers in winning percentage. He is number one in ERA and ERA+ among all pitchers, starters and relievers and ranks only behind Pedro, Billy Wagner and Trevor Hoffman in WHIP and batting average against. Mariano also ranks first among relievers with his 8 all-star appearances. Even more importantly, Rivera is easily the best postseason reliever of all-time and one of the best playoff performers ever. His 8-1 record is tops for the era, as is his astounding .77 ERA in over 117 innings. His 34 playoff saves more than double the total of anyone else and he is the only reliever to be named World Series and LCS MVP.
9) Mike Mussina 250-144, .635 Win%, 57 CG, 23 SHO, 2663 K, 7.13 K/9, 3.70 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 7 Postseason Wins, 5 All-Star Teams, 6 Gold Gloves
Mussina has to be the most unheralded "great" pitcher of the last 25 years. No one ever thinks about the guy as a truly great pitcher, let alone a Hall of Famer, but he may just qualify as both. His 250 wins during this period rank him only behind four immortals (Maddux, Clemens, Johnson and Glavine) and his .635 winning percentage ranks only behind Johnson, Clemens, Pedro and Pettitte among pitchers who have thrown at least 2000 innings. Six times he has finished in the top five of Cy Young balloting and he has made five all-star teams. In addition, he has won seven postseason games and is trails only Greg Maddux and Mark Langston with six Gold Gloves. And for anyone thinks these stats are just the product of compiling stats over so many innings, keep in mind that despite ranking in the top five of many counting stats he only ranks ninth in innings pitched.
10) David Cone 194-126, .606 Win%, 56 CG, 22 SHO, 2668 K, 8.29 K/9, 3.46 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 8-3 Postseason Record, Cy Young Award, 5 All-Star Teams, Perfect Game
Coney is one of my top five players of all-time (if you are curious, the other four are Mike Piazza, Gary Carter, Michael Tucker and Kevin Elster) and when he was at his best, was as good as anyone on this list. What hurts Cone is the fact that he really only pitched ten seasons that you would consider full seasons due to various injuries and the fact that his career was ended prematurely due to an aneurism. However, he still amassed nearly 200 wins and his winning percentage, strikeouts and K/9 are all good enough to land him in the top ten of pitchers with at least 2000 innings. His 8-3 postseason mark is one of the best of the last 25 years and he also took home a Cy Young Award and pitched a perfect game.
11) Dwight Gooden 194-112, .634 Win%, 68 CG, 24 SHO, 2293 K, 7.37 K/9, 3.51 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, Cy Young Award, 4 All-Star Teams, No-Hitter, Triple Crown
We all know the story here, one of the great talents of all-time thrown away on drugs and alcohol, yet his performance was still great enough to rank him here at number eleven. It just goes to show that Doctor K easily would have ranked in the top three or four had he avoided the pitfalls of fame, fortune and addiction. Regardless, Gooden was once as good as any pitcher that ever played the game. Despite pitching basically just ten full seasons and being retired for good at just 36 years of age, Gooden still ranks in the top fifteen in wins, winning percentage, complete games and strikeouts. He won a Cy Young award and the Triple Crown in 1985, in what was probably one of the top ten pitching seasons ever recorded. Gooden even rebounded late in his career once some of his demons were behind him to pitch a no-hitter and win a World Series with the Yankees.
12) Kevin Brown 211-144, .594 Win%, 72 CG, 17 SHO, 2397 K, 6.63 K/9, 3.28 ERA, 127 ERA+, 1.22 WHIP, 6 All-Star Teams, No-Hitter
Kevin Brown was a flat out dominating pitcher when healthy, and his five year run from 1996 to 200 was one of the best of the last 25 years. Among pitchers who threw at least 2000 innings, Brown ranked in the top ten in wins, complete games and innings pitched. He also won five playoff games, made six all-star teams and pitched a no-hitter.
13) Orel Hershiser 204-150, .576 Win%, 68 CG, 25 SHO, 2014 K, 3.48 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 8-3, 2.59 ERA, Cy Young Award, World Series MVP, 3 All-Star Teams, Gold Glove
We all know that Hershiser's 1988 season was one of the greatest by a pitcher in the last 25 years, what we forget though is that Hershiser was a very, very good pitcher both before and after that year. In no other season did he really come close to matching his '88 W-L record, but he consistently won games over the course of his career, thirteen times having reached double digit victory totals. Where Hershiser really excelled was in the postseason where his 2.59 ERA ranks behind only Mariano Rivera and Curt Schilling among pitchers who threw at least 100 playoff innings and he is the only pitcher to have been named World Series, ALCS and NLCS MVP.
14) Jack Morris 186-135, .579 Win%, 122 CG, 21 SHO, 1945 K, 3.95 ERA, 7-4 Postseason Record, World Series MVP, 4 All-Star Teams, No-Hitter
Obviously Jack Morris would rank higher had his entire career been included, but for the purposes of this ranking the first five seasons of his career were not counted. So the fact that he still ranks at number 14 is quite impressive and its strong evidence that Morris does belong in Cooperstown. There were few pitchers who were better in a big game and nowhere was that more evidenced than in the legendary Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. Also, again despite discounting five seasons of his career, he still ranks number one in the last 25 years in complete games.
15) Trevor Hoffman 53 Wins, 524 SV, 1009 K, 9.64 K/9, 2.73 ERA, 149 ERA+, 1.05 WHIP, 4 Postseason Saves, 6 All-Star Teams, 2 Rolaids Relief Awards
The all-time saves leader is obviously therefore the saves leader over the past 25 years. Not counting 2003 when Hoffman missed almost the entire season due to injury, he has saved at least 37 games for the last eleven straight seasons. And nine times he has saved at least 40, another all-time record. And these were not weak saves by any stretch, Hoffman has been as dominating in the regular season as any reliever in history. In twelve seasons his ERA has come in under 3.00 and in half of those it was 2.30 or better. His WHIP ranks third behind only Billy Wagner and Pedro Martinez, as does his batting average against. The one knock of Hoffman has been his failings in big time situations, but in fairness he hasn't been in enough of them to warrant it discounting his incredible regular season performance.
16) Bret Saberhagen 167-117, .588 Win%, 76 CG, 16 SHO, 1715 K, 3.34 ERA, 126 ERA+, 1.14 WHIP, 2 Cy Young Awards, World Series MVP, 3 All-Star Teams, No-Hitter, Gold Glove
Bret Saberhagen seems like a strange addition to the list considering how much time he missed due to injury, but when he was healthy he was as good as almost anyone. Despite making 30 or more starts only five times in his career, Sabes still piled up 167 victories and did so with a nearly .600 winning percentage. He also had two of the better individual seasons of the past two and half decades and took home the Cy Young Award for each of them, making him one of only seven pitchers to win multiple Cy's during this stretch.
17) David Wells 239-157, .604 Win%, 54 CG, 2201 K, 4.13 ERA, 719 BB, 1.27 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 10-5, 3.17 ERA, ALCS MVP, 3 All-Star Teams, Perfect Game
David Wells is hardly thought of as one of the great pitchers of the last 25 years, but his numbers suggest otherwise. During this time period only five pitchers have won more games and only seven pitchers who have won at least 200 games have a better winning percentage. While Wells did not rack up the all-star bids or Cy Young votes like most others on this list, he makes it for his consistent solid work and his many heroics while a member of the Yankees including throwing a perfect game. His playoff resume is one of the absolute best of the past 25 years as he ranks sixth in wins and third in ERA among starters who have pitched a comparable amount of innings.
18) Dennis Eckersly 86-86, 390 SV, 1219 K, 7.03 K/9, 3.58 ERA, 142 ERA+, 1.13 WHIP, 15 Postseason Saves, Cy Young Award, MVP, World Series MVP, 4 All-Star Teams, 2 Rolaids Relief Awards
It may seem like Eckersly ranks too low at this spot, but keep in mind that this ranking only encompasses half of his career. Even though he was one of the all-time great closers, his prior career as a starter is a big part of the reason that he is in the Hall of Fame. This ranking takes into account only four of Eck's twelve seasons as a starter and accounts for only 86 of his 197 career wins. So taking that into account, the fact that Eckersly still ranks as high as he does there speaks volumes about how great of a reliever he truly was. Over the past 25 years, Eck ranks fifth in Saves, sixth among relievers in ERA+ and WHIP, and ranks behind only Mariano Rivera in playoff saves. Additionally he is one of only three relievers to be named World Series MVP and the only one to win a Cy Young Award and the only one to win an MVP. His five year run from 1988 to 1992 was the greatest stretch for any reliever not only in the last 25 years, but perhaps in baseball history.
19) Andy Pettitte 201-113, .640 Win%, 1844 K, 3.83 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 14-9 Postseason Record, ALCS MVP, 2 All-Star Teams
Since the last time I went through this list, Pettitte probably took the biggest fall. Two years ago he seemed destined to add greatly to his statistics before his career was over, now it seems that he is nearing the end of his career. Not necessarily in performance, but perhaps by choice. Regardless, his combination of regular season success and postseason heroics still makes him one of the greatest pitchers of the last 25 years. He is one of only 15 pitchers to have won 200 games, and among that group he trails only Pedro, Clemens and Randy Johnson in winning percentage. Even more importantly, his 14 postseason wins rank him second behind only John Smoltz.
20) Johan Santana 93-44, .679 Win%, 9.50 K/9, 3.22 ERA, 142 ERA+, 1.09 WHIP, 2 Cy Young Awards, 3 All-Star Teams, Triple Crown, Gold Glove
Johan is easily the most dominant pitcher of this decade, and that has earned him the distinction of being the youngest pitcher to crack the top 25. In just six full seasons, Santana is already one of the greats of the last 25 years and is well on his way to being an all-time great. He currently ranks second in Win%, fourth among starters in K/9 and ERA+, and second in WHIP over the past 25 years. Addtionally he is one of only seven players to win multiple Cy Young Awards and is one of just six pitchers to have one a triple crown during this timeframe. Of course some of his average statistics may go down as his career progresses, but the counting statistics will improve to a much greater degree, assuring that he will move up this list even further before his career is done.
21) Billy Wagner 358 SV, 1014 K, 11.84 K/9, 2.40 ERA, 179 ERA+, 1.02 WHIP, 5 All-Star Teams, Rolaids Relief Award
Billy Wagner is quietly putting together a Hall of Fame career as one of the most dominant relievers of all-time. He doesn't seem to get the attention of most of the other closers on this list, but his numbers suggest he is every bit as good. Over the past 25 years he ranks sixth in Saves, second in both ERA and ERA+ and first in WHIP. Most importantly, Wagner has the distinction of being the most unhittable pitcher of the last two and half decade holding opponents to a batting average of .188, better than both Mariano Rivera (.215) and Trevor Hoffman (.210).
22) Lee Smith 64 Wins, 460 SV, 1085 K, 9.01 K/9, 3.04 ERA, 132 ERA+, 1.25 WHIP, 7 All-Star Teams, 3 Rolaids Relief Awards
Smith is unfortunately remembered as more of a journeyman reliever who happened to pile up a ton of saves due to the fact that he was on so many teams and was far from dominant at the end of his career. The fact remains that for twelve years, Lee Smith was as good of a closer as there was in baseball. For thirteen straight seasons he saved 25 games or more and three times he saved over 40. And if you discount his final season with Montreal in 1997, he did all of that with an ERA under 3.00.
23) Jimmy Key 186-117, .614 Win%, 1538 K, 3.51 ERA, 122 ERA+, 668 BB, 1.23 WHIP, Postseason Stats: 5-3, 3.15 ERA, 4 All-Star Teams
Key was never an overpowering pitcher and didn't often figure into Cy Young races, but what he was extremely efficient and consistent. Twelve times he amassed double digit victory totals, and in only one of those seasons did he not finish .500 or better. Over the past 25 years he ranks eight in winning percentage among those starters with at least 150 wins. Key was also an excellent postseason pitcher as evidenced by his 3.15 ERA in 68 2/3 innings.
24) Frank Viola 172-140, .551 Win%, 71 CG, 1760 K, 3.66 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, Cy Young Award, World Series MVP, 3 All-Star Teams
Viola was a very good pitcher for a lot of bad teams and his winning percentage reflects that. Despite this he still won at least 16 games six times between 1984 and 1990 and of course was the hero of the 1987 World Series taking home MVP honors for the Twins.
25) John Franco 90-87, 424 SV, 975 K, 7.05 K/9, 2.89 ERA, 137 ERA+, 1.33 WHIP, 4 All-Star Teams, 2 Rolaids Relief Awards
Franco is very underrated, mostly due to his propensity to make save situations more interesting than they needed to be. He was never a dominant closer, but he was an extremely effective one. Over the last 25 years he ranks fourth in Saves and first in Saves by a left-hander. He also ranks fifth in ERA among closers and has the second lowest ERA overall among all pitchers who have thrown at least 1000 innings.
That will do it for "The 25 Greatest Pitchers of the Last 25 Years", I hope you enjoyed. And I am sure you have comments and complaints ready, so let's hear em.
Now let's jump to part II of the list .
BATTING THIRD .
I had so much fun with the first 25 and I already had all the data, so I says to myself, it's just a game, what are you tryin' to prove? Ohh wait, that's not it, so I said to myself, why stop there? Here now are the next 25 best pitchers of the last 25 years, or in other words, numbers 26-50 ..
Just Missed: Jose Rijo, Al Leiter, Jeff Reardon, Rick Aguilera
That will do it for this list, but I promise there will be a lot more of these types of things to come over the next few months, including a similar list for hitters, so stay tuned. Now let's move on .
CLEANING UP
This week we continue to look back at the all-time greatest lineups and rotations for every MLB teams by focusing on the game's smallest division, the AL West. The AL West is one of the younger divisions as well, as only the A's were around prior to 1960. The Angels were an easy team except for one little caveat, they had too many outfielders/DH's and practically no catchers. For that reason, for the first time, I had to fudge my rules just a tad bit. Brian Downing was a Catcher for the Angels and in fact starter for them at the position on four Opening Days, however, he was primarily a DH. But I absolutely had to put him on the team and could not exclude Chili Davis, so I put Downing at Catcher. Not exactly cheating, but a bit off from the original rules I had outlined. The A's were very difficult just due to the sheer number of great players they have had over their 100+ year history. In terms of numbers of all-time greats, I would guess only the Yankees rank higher than the A's. Regrettable I had to leave Bob Johnson off the team just because he was competing with the likes of Mark McGwire, Reggie Jackson and Jimmie Foxx, just know that I tried hard to get him on the team somehow and he easily would have made almost any other squad with the number he put up for the A's. The Mariners were fairly easily with the lone exception being second base where Harold Reynolds and Bret Boone both deserve to make the team. Reynolds had a bit higher stats due to more seasons with the club, but ultimately I decided that Boone was actually a better player for them just because of the magnitude of his best seasons. I considered moving Edgar Martinez to third since he did play his first few seasons there for the M's and using Reynolds as DH, but decided against it since Edgar is synonymous with DH. As for the Rangers, their position players fit together nicely, but figuring out the pitching staff was tough. There were seven starters that could have earned a spot and it ended up coming down to Kevin Brown and Nolan Ryan for the final slot. Brown may have been slightly better than Ryan, as the Ryan Express had a very short stint in Arlington. However, Ryan's impact on the team and fan base was immeasurable so I ended up giving him the nod. Now let's look at the lists ..
"The Greatest" All-Time LA/Cal/Anaheim Angels (1961-present) Lineup/Rotation .
MGR Mike Scioscia
C Brian Downing
1B Rod Carew
2B Bobby Grich
SS Jim Fregosi
3B Troy Glaus
RF Tim Salmon
CF Darin Erstad
LF Garret Anderson
DH Chili Davis
SP Nolan Ryan
SP Chuck Finley
SP Mike Witt
SP Frank Tanana
SP Mark Langston
CL Troy Percival
"The Greatest" All-Time Oakland A's (1968-present)/Philadelphia/KC A's (1901-1967) Lineup/Rotation
MGR Connie Mack
C Mickey Cochrane
1B Jimmie Foxx
2B Eddie Collins
SS Bert Campaneris
3B Frank "Home Run" Baker
RF Reggie Jackson
CF Rickey Henderson
LF Al Simmons
DH Mark McGwire
SP Eddie Plank
SP Lefty Grove
SP Chief Bender
SP Catfish Hunter
SP Rube Waddell
CL Dennis Eckersly
"The Greatest" All-Time Seattle Mariners (1977-present) Lineup/Rotation .
MGR Lou Piniella
C Dan Wilson
1B Alvin Davis
2B Bret Boone
SS Alex Rodriguez
3B Jim Presley
RF Ichiro Suzuki
CF Ken Griffey Jr.
LF Jay Buhner
DH Edgar Martinez
SP Randy Johnson
SP Jamie Moyer
SP Freddy Garcia
SP Mark Langston
SP Erik Hanson
CL Kazuhiro Sasaki
"The Greatest" All-Time Texas Rangers (1972-present)/Washington Senators (1961-1971) Lineup/Rotation .
MGR Johnny Oates
C Pudge Rodriguez
1B Rafael Palmeiro
2B Michael Young
SS Toby Harrah
3B Buddy Bell
RF Juan Gonzalez
CF Rusty Greer
LF Frank Thomas
DH Ruben Sierra
SP Kenny Rogers
SP Fergie Jenkins
SP Charlie Hough
SP Rick Helling
SP Nolan Ryan
CL John Wetteland
That will do it for this week, hope you enjoyed it. We will return next week with more of the all-time greatest lineups/rotations as well as a look back at the last 25 years of MLB Drafts. Don't miss it!!!!!!!!! Until then ..
