WINS. You hear the numbers thrown out every night. Zach Greinke has a bunch. He has been really good. Bronson Arroyo has some too and he has been… well he has been bad. Why this injustice? Because the “Wins/Losses” stat is silly. That is really the only good word for it.

Dan Haren statistically gives up 1 run every 6 innings. He also has the LOWEST WHIP in the league. Pretty good if you ask me. But he only has a mediocre-looking 3 wins to go with his bad-looking 3 losses.

You wanna know who else has 3 wins (But only 1 loss–and therefore he MUST be better than Haren, right?)? This guy. Mike Pelfrey. Mike Pelfrey has been really bad this year. Maybe he was decent in ‘08 but over these first few weeks, he has simply not been a good pitcher. Let’s review. He is not a benefit to his team, giving up 2 runs every 3 innings. But he has as many wins as awesome Dan Haren and, before tonight’s outing…

This guy, named Johan Santana. Now he has 4 wins, but he should have 6. He barely eeked out tonight’s win because of a PHILLIES ERROR. Other teams literally have to give him his wins on throwing errors because his teammates just don’t want to help him. Maybe Omar Minaya was right about that competitive edge. Little known fact (because all that people care about is this silly “wins” business): Johan had a sub-3 ERA at the All-Star break last year and didn’t make the All-Star team because the Mets get lazy when he pitches. A fellow named Cole Hamels had an ERA in the low 3s but he too was jilted because he didn’t have many wins. Wins clearly don’t measure a player’s performance on the mound. Instead, they measure his teammates performance at the plate or in the field–if Nolan Ryan in his prime threw to an 11-year old that had never caught a baseball before, he could throw all the 100 mph fastballs he desired… But if those runners made it to first on every third strike passed ball, he would get charged with a loss. Thanks, kid.

Speaking of the Phillies, wanna know who leads their starting rotation in wins? That would be Jamie Moyer, who gives up more than 5 runs a game. He has the same number of wins as Haren. And Zach Duke, who has an ERA in the 2’s.

Since 2000, there have been at least 2 pitchers from the Sox-Yankees rivalry among the top 10 winningest in the AL every year. Sure they have had good pitchers but top 10 in wins NINE years straight? Or, how about this stat… In 2000, Jamie Moyer (I really like him, don’t get me wrong) with a 5.40+ ERA was 5th in the AL in wins. I wonder if Edgar Martinez might have had something to do with that. Or how about some guy named Alexander Rodriguez?

I did all of this research myself, arent you proud? Ok thats all. I hope I have successfully proven how terrible “wins” are as a valid measure of a pitcher’s effectiveness.