Verlander is a great pitcher, but he's not the best pitcher in baseball. Roy Halladay put up numbers that absolutely blow Verlander's out of the water, in a MUCH tougher division when he was in Toronto, racking up more wins with a much worse team. There's no way Verlander could match what Halladay did if he was was playing in Toronto.
And as good as the guy is, he does have weaknesses in his game (high pitch counts early in games, prone to giving up a more huge innings than other elite pitchers)
He compares very similarly to Josh Beckett, minus the World Series victories. That's pretty damn good and is not an insult to him at all (it's potential HOF material). But he's just not on the Halladay / Lincecum level. To suggest otherwise is just being biased because the guy plays here. There's no way if you watched all of Halladay's games as well you'd still feel Verlander is better.
Michael C, I agree with you about Holliday - except for one important thing: When has he ever pitched in the pressure of a pennant race? Now, that's not his fault, necessarily, but it is something Verlander has over him. Caputo
Verlander is a great pitcher, but he's not the best pitcher in baseball. Roy Halladay put up numbers that absolutely blow Verlander's out of the water, in a MUCH tougher division when he was in Toronto, racking up more wins with a much worse team. There's no way Verlander could match what Halladay did if he was was playing in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteAnd as good as the guy is, he does have weaknesses in his game (high pitch counts early in games, prone to giving up a more huge innings than other elite pitchers)
He compares very similarly to Josh Beckett, minus the World Series victories. That's pretty damn good and is not an insult to him at all (it's potential HOF material). But he's just not on the Halladay / Lincecum level. To suggest otherwise is just being biased because the guy plays here. There's no way if you watched all of Halladay's games as well you'd still feel Verlander is better.
Michael C,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Holliday - except for one important thing: When has he ever pitched in the pressure of a pennant race? Now, that's not his fault, necessarily, but it is something Verlander has over him.
Caputo