Quote:
Originally Posted by ISiddiqui
Seriously, Wainwright was ahead by miniscule margins in both measures. 0.1 in WAR and 0.01 in xFIP. They are basically equal in those measurements. Therefore you should look deeper and thus, looking at WPA and ERA+, Carpenter easily outclasses Wainwright. If you are going to use those season long stats as reasons why Wainwright should be above Carpenter, then there is NO REASON not to have Haren above both.
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Regarding WAR, if you value that stat, you value the fact that it attempts to quantify the impact of the player over an entire season. It's an all-encompassing stat. I'm not going to get into a debate over how accurate it is, or whether it's a better stat to use than WPA - that's a personal value judgment.
When you look at xFIP, you have to keep in mind that it's only part of the equation, as it doesn't factor in IP. I simply pointed out that not only did Wainwright best Carpenter slightly in that stat, he did so while also pitching quite a few more innings.
Those two things combined, to me, present a valid reason to rank Wainwright ahead of Carpenter, even if the margin is tiny.
As far as Haren goes, I would agree that he should've gotten more love from the voters, especially ones like Law who shouldn't care so much about win totals.
But I will stand by my contention that it's perfectly valid to place Wainwright ahead of Carpenter. I don't think it's a slam-dunk either way, so I'm not going to quibble with one being ranked ahead of the other. As I stated, I think the right guy won the award, and that's the more important thing.