A fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, and large sample sizes.

 
GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, ESPN

On Baseball Tonight, John Kruk was justed asked (I'm paraphrasing), "If you had to pick the AL Cy Young winner right now - the one pitcher you would want to start one game you had to win - would you pick Kevin Brown? Pedro Martinez? Curt Schilling? Who?"

To which John Kruk replied, "Jarrod Washburn".

Harold Reynolds agreed, saying "It's all about the wins. ERA can get distorted when pitchers have to pitch with a lead. They pitch to the score. Man, I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Kruk."

It's good, Harold, that you briefly realized Kruk is a crazy man, but you are horribly horribly wrong about this.

ESPN, you pride yourself on being the World-Wide Leader in Sports. Frankly, you should call yourself the World-Wide Provider of Sports Broadcasting. True leadership implies having foresight, taking risks, and showing the courage to admit that the traditionalists just might be wrong.

Revolutionary ideas, correct ideas, ideas that stand on their own and don't need spin-doctors to keep them alive, can only be contained for so long. Eventually they will catch hold and spread like wildfire among the sports world. It's already happening, and it will only continue to accelerate. We don't need the help of ESPN, but they could help fan the flames, and in the process, truly show themselves to be the sports leader they claim to be. If they stick with the status quo, they'll be left in the dust.

Extra: For more of my thoughts in the Wins vs. ERA vs. Pitcher Talent issue, check out this thread at RotoJunkie.

Posted by Sky at 7:31 PM | 1 comments