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Name an ace

TakebackOPACY

By TakebackOPACY
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TakebackOPACY All-Star

TakebackOPACY

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Inspired by the Jim Palmer radio interview thread on the O's board...

Name a SP whom you believe is a legit ace. And/or comment positively or negatively on a name put out there by someone else.

If this thread has any legs, maybe we can round up the names proposed here into an unlimited voting poll to determine whom OH posters view as an ace and how many 'aces' OH posters view that there are in MLB (or just the AL).

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TakebackOPACY All-Star

TakebackOPACY

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Define legit ace.........IMO there are a lot of good ones out there, but I am having trouble with the ACE part.

I think that we have to start by agreeing on the preface that being the number 1 on your team doesn't necessarily qualify you as an ace. Beyond that, I think the whole point is "how do you define 'ace'". I think you can share all or part of your definitions.

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longflyball Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

longflyball

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This is soooo subjective.

Lackey

Santana

Webb

Halladay

Oswalt

Peavy

Smoltz

Zambrano

To me an ace is a starter that can be confidently predicted to have a very good season.

Beckett had a an ERA over 5.00 in 2006 and his resume' prior to 2007 is weak. Bedard's argument to be an ace is based on one season. As good as they were in 2007, I can't confidently predict that they will repeat. Smoltz and Zambrano won't make many lists, but they consistently post very good seasons.

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Migrant Redbird All-Star

Migrant Redbird

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To me an ace is a starter that can be confidently predicted to have a very good season.

To me, an "ace" is a starter who can actually lead his team, not just be the best pitcher who happens to currently be on the team.

As you point out, longevity and consistency are important too. During Chris Carpenter's CYA season in 2005, he had a stretch of 18 starts (June 3rd through Sept. 13th) which all ended up being Cardinals wins even though Chris had a few no decisions mixed in. That's "ace" level performance; too bad he wasn't durable enough to even finish out the season pitching near that level. He very nearly lost the CYA with a bad stretch in September.

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RShack Hangout Grand Counsel

RShack

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For me personally, an ace has nothing to do with being a leader. Nothing. For most guys who I would think of as an ace, I have zilch idea of any kind about what kind of leader they are. IMO, that doesn't matter at all.

The only thing that matters to me is what they do to your expectations about the game. An ace is a guy who, when he's pitching for your team today, you think "Oh, good... we're gonna win" and when he's pitching for the bad guys today, you think, "Oh, crap. Who's pitching tomorrow?" To me, that's what an ace is. IMO, an ace is a guy who single-handedly makes you think a game is *not* a fair fight.

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