Clemens immediately came to mind when the OP started trying to claim that Lester's production decline was cause for concerns. Thanks for doing the research. Keep on trolling, cyclones360.....
MLB: ***Official Cubs Offseason Thread***
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Clemens immediately came to mind when the OP started trying to claim that Lester's production decline was cause for concerns. Thanks for doing the research. Keep on trolling, cyclones360.....
Oh I agree they are in a good spot. Im not going to be an idiot like Mr. Dodger was and assume its a foregone conclusion.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Yu Darvish was the Astros best player. He single handedly lost the World Series.
Okay, so Lester has had the sharpest decline in ERA among starters with 180+ ip since 1999. A decline of epic proportions.
Because I said below a 2.50 and above a 4.30 the next year within the last 2 decades. Somebody tell me, when did Clemens do this in the last 2 decades?
Man, the drama queen level there is pretty high! The way you paint Lester's 2018 production, you'd think we'd be dealing with the 2nd coming of Rick Ankeil and he might as well retire now. Let's not discuss the fact that he's been an elite level starting pitcher for 12 season and was coming off of a World Series winning season (which I'm starting to get the feeling is a part of your problem seeing as how your Dodgers can't seem to get the job done). He's 34 years old! Sure, he's got a big contract but that was necessary at the time to get him on board to be the center piece of the Cubs rotation to attract other talent. It's really not that hard to figure out and really not as dramatic as cyclones360 tries to spin it.
I lived in LA. There are plenty of idiot Dodger fans.
Cubs fans are missing the point. It's not about Lester's age or the Cubs signing him to attract other talent. It's not about him winning a world series with the Cubs.
This is simply about Jon Lester having the sharpest decline in era in back-to-back seasons among starters with 180+ ip and a 2.50 era since 1998-1999. This is a fact -something we can all agree on. Let's not beat around the bush here, this is a sharp and alarming decline for any pitcher.
This is simply about Jon Lester having the sharpest decline in era in back-to-back seasons among starters with 180+ ip and a 2.50 era since 1998-1999. This is a fact -something we can all agree on. Let's not beat around the bush here, this is a sharp and alarming decline for any pitcher.
Al Leiter went form 2.47 to 4.23 in 1998 and 1999. The 5 seasons after 1999 he averaged just over 190 innings per year with an average ERA of 3.44.
Zack Grienke went from 2.16 to 4.17 from 2009 to 2010. He has had an OK career since that point.
Dallas Keuchel jumped from a 2.48 ERA in 2015 to 4.55 in 2016 and then back down to 2.90 last season.
I'll give you Greinke, however the 2.16 was definitely an outlier at that point in his career. Before last year Lester had consistently been below 3 or right around 3.
Keuchel only threw 168 innings in 2016.
Actually if you throw out a couple games Lester didn't do that bad last year. He's an upgrade relative to Lackey and we signed a stud in Darvish. Rotation looks better than last year to this Cubs fan....
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
He was awfully solid and made a huge adjustment after his personal catcher retired.
I certainly don't have any concerns with this pitching staff.
I'm going to guess the game where he got run in the first after giving up 10 to the Pirates is included amongst those.
Lackey was a contender for worst starter in baseball last year. Of course Lester is better than him. If Darvish can stay healthy and not tip his pitches he will be a solid 3 starter. He's nothing more, though. His ERA has steadily rose each of the past 4 seasons. And as I mentioned before, who's going to pitch for him come playoff time? Hand movement in the glove = offspeed, no hand movement = fastball. It's amazing to me too.
Why do you guys continue to entertain this idiot? Just hit the ignore button and keep the discussion to our offseason moves.