HOF? Pettitte; Sabathia: Either; Nether; Both

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I have a hard time giving a damn about post season counting stats. Your TEAM has to get you there an awful lot to give you even a chance of racking those numbers up. So I have a hard time saying Petitte was greater than say Felix Hernandez, because he got a ton of postseason opportunities. When Fernandez was a much more dominant pitcher overall, albeit one who was, unfortunately, finished at a much younger age. Then again that's what PED's gets you.

A bit confused by your Felix Hernandez comment. How did you come to the conclusion that you think I think Pettitte is better than Felix?

But since you brought up Felix, I think he is actually pretty comparable to Pettitte. Felix has the Cy Young and 2 ERA titles, but as you mentioned, his career was pretty short--he was basically done by age 30. Wins may be a somewhat meaningless number, but Felix's 169 wins compared to Pettitte's 259 is maybe meaningful, and speaks to Pettitte's consistency over time--he still going strong into his 40s.

Felix never got to 50 WAR, and Pettitte's was over 60. Felix's JAWS is 97th for a starting pitcher at 44.1, and Pettitte's is 82nd at 47.2.

Both have a career ERA+ of 117, 4 Top 5 Cy Young finishes, but got there in different ways. Felix was more of a power pitcher, with 8.3 strikeouts per 9 to Pettitte's 6.6 strikeouts per 9. But Pettitte being more of a pitch to contact guy may have helped with his longevity.

Its not Felix's fault he never saw a postseason opportunity (except for maybe in 2018 when his poor play may kept them out of the playoffs) . But its also not Pettitte's fault that he did. Pettitte took advantage of great situation to record the most postseason wins ever.