FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Lifer: Metallica Sucks! said 06/19, 08:19 PM
Simple question...who thus far in the 2008 season has been playing above their head?

I'm going to ignore the sexier picks and go with Ryan Dempster.

He currently has an 8-2 record, 2.76 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, .192 BAA, and 81 Ks over 94.2 IP.

Remember, this is THE Ryan Dempster. You know, the guy who hasn't had an ERA under 4 since 2005, and that was as a closer. The beginning of his career was as a starter, and over the 7 seasons as a starter, only ONCE did he have an ERA under 4.00 (yet he had an ERA above 6.00 three times).

He was then converted into a closer, where he was...well...bad. His first two seasons, he posted ERAs of 3.92 and 3.13, but in his next two seasons (05 and 06), he had ERAs of 4.80 and 4.72...that's right, as a closer.

Now...he's a 31 year old who was supposed to be a washed up scrub. Instead, he was made into a starter for this year, and now you see what happened. Among all starters on his team, Dempster is tied for first in wins, and is first in ERA and 2nd in Ks.

In the NL among starters, he is 4th in Wins and ERA, 3rd in WHIP, and 2nd in BAA. To put it simply, he is putting up elite numbers.

Lifer: Metallica Sucks! said 06/20, 04:49 PM
Good choice.

My one beef with the Marlins is that, while they've certainly had a good run thus far, they lead neither their own division (Phillies) nor the NL Wild Card (Cardinals). Actually, they're tied for second in the Wild Card with the Brewers.

Ryan Dempster, on the other hand, is the best pitcher on the team with the best record in baseball, the Cubs. On top of that, the Cubs have the 4th best ERA in all of baseball.

The Marlins also have a TON of young talent. Of the six starters, four of them are 25 years old or under. Of the 8 position players, only two of them are older than 30. The Marlins are not a team with a lot of recognizable names, which of course gives them the tag of "overachieving"...but I could see this just as easily being because no one has had the chance to hear their names before.

The Marlins don't put up gaudy stats, but they play in a pretty weak league. The NL has only SIX teams with winning records, including the Marlins.

As for the rest of the NL East...the Nationals have the worst record in the NL, the Mets have had big distractions everywhere but the baseball diamond, and the Braves lost their ace (Smoltz). Only the Phillies have no blemishes.

Lifer: Metallica Sucks! said 06/20, 11:08 PM
A 2.93 ERA is good for a reliever. A 2.76 ERA is excellent for a starter.

Dempster in 2005 was a closer. You should know that an ERA above 3.00 for a closer is not that impressive, hemo.

Although to be fair, Dempster did start 6 games in 2005...and he went 1-3 with a 5.88 ERA.

So what if the Marlins only have 2 rings and 11 playoff appearances on their team? The Cubs have the best record in baseball, and they only have one ring on their team. Besides, this is the regular season.

Yeah, I said the Marlins don't put up gaudy numbers...but you apparently chose to ignore what I said about their weak league. In their own division, they are:

3-3 vs Phillies (.500)
2-4 vs Mets (.333)
4-5 vs Braves (.444)
8-1 vs Washington (.889)

Congrats, your team has a winning record against the worst team in the NL, and no one else in your own division.

The Marlins are also starting to come back down to earth, anyways. They were 14-10 in April, 15-10 in May, and thus far is 10-13 in June. Dempster, on the other hand, is 3-0 and has a 2.87 ERA in his last 5 starts. While Dempster continues his dominance, the Marlins are starting to fade.