mdn82

Lets see how loud the crowd is when Arrieta is shutting them down after a few innings.

Not in the least worried about Arrieta tonight. Check out his Twitter. I am more worried about our offense.

Lol told you on the mod board, I got my baseball cap on the next couple weeks.

Discussing this is like discussing a shooters form. Two players both hit 53% from the field. That stat would be W/L. Their ERA would be like where they are hitting their shots from. Is a guard who also shoots 3s more valuable than a center who does not when they have the same shooting percentage? FIP on the other hand would be like two players shooting 53%, but one (from the eye test) has consistent form, and the other has terrible form. At some point the consistency of the shot will show, as will the ugliness of the other. It takes luck out of the equation. Rocky explanation but my point is, you see people on here every day talking about a win like it's not the most important thing. The need to focus on details of basketball. That is what FIP is. It takes luck out of the equation. It judges pitchers based solely on how they pitch as opposed to whether or not their team picks them up night in and night out.

Actually his FIP was even more dominant last year. That's why he was the MVP. Nobody had seen a season like that.

As a Cubs fan I think playing in St Louis and being there would be great. Not many places you guys haven't been in the playoffs though.

But but if we look at wins don't we look at losses? Are 3 more wins worth 3 more losses? Are the strikeouts worth the added walks? For shits and gigs of course.

If it wasn't Greinke will be your Cy Young. We will see.

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/fip/ It is a weighted variable taking into account every significant stat a pitcher can control. The variable is complex and best I cite to not confuse others more. Edit: I usually like for a pitcher to judge off K rate, fWAR, BB, BBAIP, and FIP. No one stat gives you the answers to everything but FIP is very critical in telling you how good someone is. Take for instance Kershaw. If you go purely off FIP, no Cub in 130 years posted as good of FIP as he did this year. That stat is just him and the hitter. It's pretty easy to sit back and say sure, we haven't had anyone near as dominant as him. But like you said there is more to pitching than just over matching a hitter or he would be the Cy Young every year.

I don't want to make it sound like I am minimizing what Greinke did. He is a 1A pitcher on a staff with another 1A. I prefer Kershaw's season as a pitcher. He has been as unlucky as Greinke has been lucky which happens. I would take those two over Arrieta in a series. But I think the Cy Young will go to Arrieta fairly easy.

Any coach would want FIP. ERA is still dependent on holds by relief pitchers and your defenders. It's not useless at all but doesn't tell you how good a pitcher is. FIP is fielding independent pitching which calculate how good a pitcher is independent of his team. Is Grienke a better pitcher for the Dodgers or Phillies. Not any one stat is the be all end all but to tell how good a player truly is you have rely less on dependent variables.

Look at his WHIP, K rate, and FIP. 1.99 which is worse than last year! That is insane and shows how dominant he is. Only reason he doesn't win the Cy Young is because you have a few older writers who aren't fan of advanced stats and will still put him at 3 because of W/L. But his overall numbers are right there with Arrieta. He is more overpowering but people do damage to him when they put the ball in play at a higher than normal clip. Edit: Just looking at his advanced stats we haven't seen a 2 year stretch like this since Koufax. That's impressive.

2.35 FIP vs 2.76 (I am assuming you know what this means since you said arguing for shits and gigs). Over 7 WAR vs sub 6. Arrieta K rate a lot higher. Greinke's BABIP is a little on the lucky side and well below the norm. ERA is great if you take into consideration the runners inherited by your pitching staff. On the wins? Sorry that is one stat I will use to discuss how good a pitcher is. So much more than just the pitcher goes into that stat. The FIP is the one to me that shows Arrieta has been hands down the better pitcher. His 2nd half advanced stats show he has had 1 of 2 of the greatest pitching halves of all time. Greinke's numbers show he is a fly ball pitcher in a pitchers park (FIP and 48% GB rate). Nothing wrong with pitching to your park but the numbers that only take pitching into account show Arrieta had the better season.

Lmfao. Compare the numbers and get back with me. He isn't even the 2nd best. His teammate is.

Lester isn't pitching that game. The best pitcher in baseball this year is.

Pirates in a one game w Arrieta pitching. The Cards who are banged up and just lost their best starting pitcher. I actually don't mind our road.

Stoked for the playoffs this year. Cubs need more pitching but we see all the time how one pitcher can carry the team. Anyone interested follow his Twitter for some fun back and forth with pirate fans trying to get in his head.

We will have to agree to disagree on this aspect when it comes to entertaining recruits. I have seen girls with full season tickets as well as receive NFL tix. Hell Zach Randolph knocked up his "tour guide." Never said these girls receive these types of things from the school though. That's what donors are for. These aren't student tix they receive. Gym access. Believe me, I know neither of will try to or care if the other one changes their mind.

There is only fire when people cooperate which never happens because there is rarely a paper trail or the person involved doesn't bite the hand that feeds them. There is always smoke on this topic.

How do you think they get that eye candy? Just appears? Giving them perks is paying them to have sex with recruits... That is the definition of prostitution.

Mama always said if you got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. I will continue as if people don't notice my non-sensical regular rant.

I agree and raise you another stat. Since August 1, Jake Arrieta is 10-0 in 11 starts with a .40 ERA... One of ours has to continue. Right?

I think the Cal game would be a fun one.

I guess real life sometimes imitates art.

oh now they just need Bartolo Colon and then you could say that.