Top WAR of all time

[Bahama O's Fan]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_career.shtml

I find this interesting. Cal the top Oriole at 37.

[notfast]

Top single season WAR 20.0 -- 1883 Tim OKeefe.

he pitched 618 innings in 68 complete games...winning 41.

[clapdiddy]

Frank Robinson is #24. I know he wasn't ONLY an Oriole, but I would say he was pretty important to them!

[JLee2027]

I have no issue with Cy Young, etc, being so highly rated, but it's clear the WAR calculation for pitchers needs work. The guys with the most innings = the most WAR, which shows a flawed formula. Not that I have a better one.

[atomic]

I have no issue with Cy Young, etc, being so highly rated, but it's clear the WAR calculation for pitchers needs work. The guys with the most innings = the most WAR, which shows a flawed formula. Not that I have a better one.

They named the best pitcher award after him long before WAR existed. He lead the league in numerous categories like wins, era, shutouts multiple years. Lead the league in FIP 7 times. I think it is a little bit ore than most inning pitched. But comparing players from different eras is not easy.

[Orioles4Life21]

I have no issue with Cy Young, etc, being so highly rated, but it's clear the WAR calculation for pitchers needs work. The guys with the most innings = the most WAR, which shows a flawed formula. Not that I have a better one.

Longevity has to count for something though.

[Tryptamine]

WAR is a cumulative stat. So when you have a guy throwing 400 innings he only has to be half as good as the guy throwing 200IP to be equal. If you wanted everything weighted equally where you took a pitcher's averages and used that exclusively to create WAR then relievers would dominate the stat.

[bird watcher]

WAR is a cumulative stat. So when you have a guy throwing 400 innings he only has to be half as good as the guy throwing 200IP to be equal. If you wanted everything weighted equally where you took a pitcher's averages and used that exclusively to create WAR then relievers would dominate the stat.

That can't be true. No way a 200 inning 5.00 ERA pitcher has an equal WAR value to a 100 inning 2.5 ERA pitcher. Perhaps a 200 inning 2.0 ERA pitcher is more valuable than a 100 inning 1.0 ERA pitcher though.

[weams]

That can't be true. No way a 200 inning 5.00 ERA pitcher has an equal WAR value to a 100 inning 2.5 ERA pitcher.

Actually, he is.

[bird watcher]

Actually, he is.

Then that stat is indeed severely flawed.

[weams]

Then that stat is indeed severely flawed.

To be more valuable, that reliever would need to control offense even more so.

[Can_of_corn]

Actually, he is.

No, he isn't.

While WAR is a cumulative stat it is also performance based.

It would be more accurate to say that a 200 inning pitcher pitching 1 win greater than replacement per 200 innings has an equal WAR value to a 50 inning pitcher pitching 4 wins greater than replacement per 200 innings.

[Can_of_corn]

Top single season WAR 20.0 -- 1883 Tim OKeefe.

he pitched 618 innings in 68 complete games...winning 41.

What would constitute replacement level in 1883 I wonder?

[weams]

No, he isn't.

While WAR is a cumulative stat it is also performance based.

It would be more accurate to say that a 200 inning pitcher pitching 1 win greater than replacement per 200 innings has an equal WAR value to a 50 inning pitcher pitching 4 wins greater than replacement per 200 innings.

Of course there are other elements to pitching WAR than ERA and Innings pitched. I simply meant to dismiss it because it is cumulative is also unreasonable. The reason Maris was not championed as the all time HR leader was not just the extra games, but the fact that he did not have a career of swat to back it up.

Here is a detail explanation of Pitching WAR for those who do not know.

[bird watcher]

No, he isn't.

While WAR is a cumulative stat it is also performance based.

It would be more accurate to say that a 200 inning pitcher pitching 1 win greater than replacement per 200 innings has an equal WAR value to a 50 inning pitcher pitching 4 wins greater than replacement per 200 innings.

That makes more sense. A 5.00 ERA pitcher can't possibly be considered a net positive to wins but a 2.50 ERA pitcher most certainly is. I would argue that the fact that the 5.00 ERA pitcher has negative value in terms of wins and even more negative value because he pitched 200 innings.