Some stats you can really use

So FIRE JOE MORGAN has a great post today, talking about an article, where the writer was talking about the amount of innings a pitcher should throw in the minors before being called up. It really got me to thinking about how much stock we take in certain pitching stats.

First and foremost, I abhor pitch counts. The Japanese have this, we really don't like the American school of pitching, monitoring and holding hurlers on a leash. I was one of those kids, whose father believed in one type of pitching school... throw until your arm hurts. Never really had a problem with my elbow needing surgery. I really had a problem getting some zip on my fastball.

Might I digress, I really think the pitch count is a really crappy way to mess with a pitchers mind. I like to think that if your throwing a great game, you got your stuff, the last thing you need to hear and get coached on is pitch count. If I'm in the 8th and have thrown 130 pitches, the last thing I want, throwing my game off (no pun intended) is a pitching coach or manager telling me to take a seat because of how many pitches I've thrown.

Now this post on JOE MORGAN, the focus was on the amount of innings a pitcher should throw in the minors to move up. According to Buzz Bissinger the "rule of thumb" is to have around 400 minor league innings, because this is how clubs try to play it safe and help lead young pitchers into the show.

However as the post goes on, many great pitchers like Carlton, Ryan and Palmer, pitched well below 400 innings. Judging how history turned out, they didn't do too bad. Now, I hate numbers, I think they can be horribly deceptive. If you got a kid that can pitch and he's effective, I really don't care how many innings he throws. I'd rather have quality starts, realistic quality starts.

Now, the Yankees are having this problem, but some Yankee fans can't see this. Joba Chamberlain, the super set up man, is originally supposed to be a starter. However, due to some shake ups, he is still in the bullpen. Seeing that he hasn't thrown more than 24 innings in a few seasons in the show, it doesn't seem reasonable to shove him into a starting role.

Also, I'm a firm believer in the idea, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The rotation for the Yanks is crap, but this was to be assumed; Wang will work until the playoffs, Kennedy is just horrible, Hughes also is a bum and seriously, Mussina should have quit long ago. Has anyone lost as much as Mussina. At least Schilling was effective last year, almost threw a no-no, but Mussina has been a wreck.

So kids, the moral of the story is don't believe in pitch counts and if you throw less than 400 innings in the minors, you might have a chance to succeed in the majors.

Sal Fasano Facts: Sal threw 500 innings in AAA Richmond