MLB's Best of the Decade: Pitchers

A little while back, we looked at the best hitters of the decade. Now, let's look at the top pitchers in every category, courtesy of Baseball-Reference's Play Index (all averages min 700 innings) :

• Decisions - Livan Hernandez (252), Javier Vazquez (243), Barry Zito (239), Andy Pettitte (236), Greg Maddux (235)

• W - Pettitte (148), Randy Johnson (143), Jamie Moyer (140), Roy Hallady (138), Tim Hudson/Roy Oswalt (137)

• L - Livan (124), Vazquez (115), Jeff Suppan (109), Jeff Weaver (106), Zito (106)

• SV - Mariano Rivera (397), Trevor Hoffman (362), Jason Isringhausen (284), Billy Wagner (284), Francisco Cordero (250)

• W-L% - Pedro Martinez (.691), Roger Clemens (.682), Johan Santana (.670), Halladay (.667), Oswalt (.662)

• Games - David Weathers (712), LaTroy Hawkins (652), Rivera (649), Alan Embree (642), Kyle Farnsworth (626)

• Starts - Livan (331), Vazquez (326), Suppan (319), Zito (319), Moyer (315)

• CG - Halladay (46), Livan (36), Big Unit (32), CC Sabathia (28), Curt Schilling (26)

• SHO - Halladay (13), Big Unit (12), Hudson (11), Sabathia (11), Chris Carpenter/Mark Mulder (10)

• Games Finished - Rivera (587), Wagner (465), Hoffman (464), Izzy (447), Cordero (425)

• IP - Livan (2195), Vazquez (2157), Buehrle (2055), Zito (1993.2), Moyer (1980.1)

• ERA - Rivera (2.09), Pedro (3.00), Johan (3.12), Oswalt (3.23), John Smoltz (3.24)

• ERA+ - Rivera (214), Pedro (152), Johan (143), Brandon Webb (142), Big Unit (137)

• SO - Big Unit (2180), Vazquez (1992), Johan (1733), Pedro (1618), Sabathia (1587)

• BB/9 - Brad Radke (1.36), David Wells (1.40), Maddux (1.43), Schilling (1.47), Jon Lieber (1.50), Josh Towers (1.51)

• HR/9 - Rivera (0.48), Webb (0.63), Julian Tavarez (0.66), Halladay (0.73), Hudson (0.73), Derek Lowe/Carlos Zambrano (0.73)

• SO/9 - Big Unit (10.42), Kerry Wood (10.05), Pedro (9.95), Rich Harden (9.35), Scott Kazmir (9.33)

• H/9 - Rivera (6.92), Wood (7.14), Pedro (7.16), Harden (7.20), Chris Young (7.43)

• WHIP - Rivera (0.962), Pedro (1.034), Johan (1.113), Big Unit (1.114), Schilling (1.129)

• K/BB - Schilling (6.01), Rivera (4.88), Pedro (4.64), Big Unit (4.50), Smoltz (4.26), Mike Mussina (4.09)

• SB% - Krik Reuter (0.27), Carpenter (0.37), Mike Maroth (0.38), Bartolo Colon (0.39), Buehrle (0.41)

• Pickoffs - Buehrle (66), Pettitte (45), Doug Davis (43), Mark Mulder (36), Brian Anderson (34)

• GIDP - Buehrle (240), Livan (218), Jon Garland (215), Lowe (214), Suppan (208)

• BAA - Rivera (.210), Pedro (.216), Wood (.219), Harden (.220), Chris Young (.222), Johan (.225)

• OBP against - Rivera (.256), Pedro (.273), Johan (.281), Schilling (.284), Big Unit (.288)

• SLG against - Rivera (.285), Harden (.342), Pedro (.344), Zambrano (.351), Webb (.352)

• OPS against - Rivera (.541), Pedro (.617), Harden (.647), Santana (.649), Clemens (.659)

• OPS+ against - Rivera (56), Pedro (65), Webb (73), Clemens (73), Schilling (76)

• Avg. Game Score - Pedro (61), Santana (60), Big Unit (59), Schilling (58), Clemens (57)

• Quality Starts - Vazquez (192), Zito (192), Buehrle (189), Big Unit (187), Oswalt (185)

• Quality Start % - Oswalt (.683), Webb (.672), Johan (.667), Big Unit (.665), Pedro (.659)

• Pitches/start - Zambrano (106.0), Livan (105.7), Justin Verlander (105.7), Al Leiter (105.6), Jason Schmidt (105.1)

• Strike % - Schilling (.694), Wells (.686), Rivera (.685), Paul Byrd (.684), Brad Radke (.684)

• Franchises Played For - Rick White (11), Bruce Chen (10), Dennys Reyes (9), Julian Tavarez (9), Ron Villone (9)

• 20-win seasons - Schilling (3), Oswalt (2), Halladay (2), Colon (2), Moyer (2), Big Unit (2)

• 200-K seasons - Johan (5), Vazquez (5), Pedro (5), Big Unit (5), Jake Peavy/Halladay/Wood/Schilling (3)

• Sub-3.00 ERA (qualified for ERA title) - Johan (4), Peavy (4), Pedro (4), Big Unit (4), Halladay (3)

• Cy Young Awards - Big Unit (3), Clemens (2), Johan (2), many tied at 1
  

So who is the best pitcher of the decade? I lowered the innings limit to 700 to get a lot more people involved, but also to show how great Mariano Rivera is compared to his peers. His averages should be higher only pitching one inning, but he was great this past decade. He's my vote but there are some other great candidates.

What about The Big Unit? He won the most Cy Young's this decade and had the second most wins and most Ks this decade. He also had a second place finish in 2004.

Or is it Roger Clemens who ended the decade on a bad note but pitched unbelievably earlier on and pitched in 4 World Series this decade?

Or is it Johan Santana or Pedro Martinez who you saw near the top of almost all the major categories? Pedro finished second in the Cy voting in 2002, third in 2003 and 4th in 2004 and came 5th in the AL MVP voting in 2000. Johan finished 3rd in 2005 and 2008 and had a 5th and 7th places finish.

Or maybe Javier Vazquez (consistency with double digit wins every season) or Andy Pettitte (overall wins) or Curt Schilling (early decade dominance with Red Sox and D-backs) or Roy Halladay (late decade dominance with a Cy and a 3rd, 5th and 2nd place finish) or the forgotten about Roy Oswalt (5 top-5 Cy finishes) or Mark Buerhle (quietly put up a very nice decade)?

I'll put up the choices and you can vote in the poll to the right. When you vote, let us know who you voted for and why in the comments. I'll reveal the answers once the poll is closed

Javier Vazquez Is Not That Bad

Maybe the Yankees shouldn't have given up on Javier Vazquez so quickly. He mostly shut down the Red Sox today and looked like he had their number.

Since he was traded away from the Yankees at the end of 2004, the only players with more Ks than Vazquez are Jake Peavy and Johan Santana. And the only pitchers to log more innings are Santana, CC Sabathia, Dan Haren, Roy Oswalt, Aaron Harang and Mark Buehrle.

He's a good pitcher and I think the Yankees may have given up on him a bit too soon, though he really never proved he could be an effective pitcher in New York

Just Like It Always Is

The Yankees failing against a no-name and succeeding against a potential Hall of Famer is nothing new. They made Pedro their daddy, they beat up Trevor Hoffman in 1998, and they never let the Oakland A's trio pitch past them in the ALDS. But they've been horrible against rookies or other pitchers they haven't really seen. My theory is that they're intelligent bunch of ballplayers who spend a lot of time reading scouting reports and guessing and when they don't guess correctly, they have a rough day.

So when I heard the prognosticators say it was really important to win on Saturday because Santana was pitching on Sunday, I knew that was ridiculous. And so it occured. They couldn't touch Fernando Nieve and they couldn't seem to miss against Johan Santana.

The key play to this game was the two out hit that Francisco Cervelli had against Johan Santana to get the Yankees going. And once he got that hit, the Yankees never looked back. Cervelli has been a pleasant surprise for this team and once again showed that he can be a good catcher as well, guiding AJ Burnett to his best game in a LONG time.

Hopefully this game will help this team break out and start winning some games. You never say they need to sweep, but with the MLB-worst Washington Nationals in town, they need to continue what they started today.

And those who were worried the Yankees can't win in this ballpark should realize that they've now won 14 of 19 and look pretty comfortable there. It wasn't the prettiest way to do it, but this was another series win for the Yanks.