Holy similarity, Batman!

Check out these numbers for two different pitchers over the past 7 seasons:

124-63, 3.34 ERA, 1.169 WHIP, 1447 K

122-57, 3.14 ERA, 1.162 WHIP, 1453 K

Both are outstanding, right? (and nearly identical)

The first guy is Justin Verlander.
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The second guy is CC Sabathia. Obviously, they are at different stages in their careers, but this is a statistical comparison that I never would have expected to be so close- especially, since it favors Sabathia.

I'd rather have the Detroit Tiger, of course, but credit where credit is due.

the difference is that in the last 3 years, something has clicked for Verlander, and he went from being a good SP to an elite SP. CC is on a different path. I do like the idea of waiting for CC instead of reaching for Verlander though. I think there's more value to be had there.

All value judgments aside, my main reason for posting this is that I was so surprised that any two players could have stats so similar over the same 7 year period.

The differences are 2 wins, 0.007 WHIP, 6 K's, and the big one 0.20 ERA. It really is incredible.

Check out this site for early SP rankings. Verlander # 2 and CC # 22. Same as always. We all take Verlander but he is not that much better like it shows over 7 years. That is the same respect he has always got in my league. I kept him for all 5 years in my keeper league before we redrafted for this reason. Guys like Johan and Halladay got huge value and I got half that value in trade talks for CC. So I kept him the entire time.

Originally posted by LABLUE Check out this site for early SP rankings. Verlander # 2 and CC # 22. Same as always. We all take Verlander but he is not that much better like it shows over 7 years. That is the same respect he has always got in my league. I kept him for all 5 years in my keeper league before we redrafted for this reason. Guys like Johan and Halladay got huge value and I got half that value in trade talks for CC. So I kept him the entire time.

I hear that. I had some trade talks and included CC in a few multi-player deals. I got a couple, "not interested in CC" responses and one, "I've been burned by CC in the past..." My response was, "Man, you can hold a grudge. He hasn't had a sub-par season in 8 years!"

Just as you did, I decided it is much better to keep him and enjoy the stats.