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15 December 2009
America loves a good debate, and in recent years we've had our fair share of great matchups. Obama vs. McCain, Kobe vs. LeBron, Manning vs. Brady, and Charlie Manuel vs. the English language. Enter Santana vs. Halladay.
This figures to be an ongoing battle, perhaps as fierce as the rivalry itself. In the aftermath of the trade, most writers refer to Halladay as "the best pitcher in baseball", and its making me sick. As far as I'm concerned, Santana is still the best pitcher in baseball. He was in the past, he is now, and he will be going forward. And I'm here to tell you why. Cue the Phillies homers.
First off, lets take a look at the career stats:
Johan Santana: 122-60, 3.12 ERA, 1.113 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, 9 CG, 143 ERA+
Roy Halladay: 148-76, 3.43 ERA, 1.198 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, 49 CG, 133 ERA+
So Santana has the edge in winning percentage, ERA, ERA+, WHIP, and K/9. To be fair, Halladay has a massive edge in complete games. And to me, that is Halladay's biggest strength. Still, I would have to give the career stats edge to Santana. Most people say that in the past 2 years, Halladay has greatly outperformed Santana. This is blatantly false. Check the numbers:
2008-2009 (since Santana joined the Mets)
Johan Santana: 29-16, 2.78 ERA, 1.175 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 3 CG, 150 ERA +
Roy Halladay: 37-21, 2.78 ERA, 1.089 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, 18 CG, 154 ERA +
Again, outside of the complete games, it looks like a wash to me. You probably have to give Halladay the slight edge here, but nothing significant enough to claim the title of "best pitcher in baseball". Drew Brees doesn't become the best QB in the NFL if he has a better season than Peyton Manning. Bottom line, Santana has the better track record, and he hasn't had a bad year in his entire career. Hallday has. And although Santana is coming off of elbow surgery, I like his chances of a more sustained career. Halladay is a power pitcher who throws an incredible amount of pitches per year. Santana is more of a finesse guy who relies on his changeup as an out pitch. What will happen to Halladay when he can't blow people away? Who knows. But for many pitchers, like Pedro Martinez, this is a problem. And Santana is 2 years younger to begin with.
One thing is for certain. No matter which pitcher is better, the other guy is a close second. And we are in for some legendary pitchers duels in the coming years. I'm looking forward to watching, and arguing about this, for years to come.
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