Roy Halladay

[waroriole]

Is he the best pitcher in baseball right now? While he doesn't have the ERA that some others have can you attribute that to the fact that he has the mentality of "I'm in here to pitch 9 and win." If I were in the 7th game of the WS, I think he's the guy I want out there more than anyone else.

[getxstoked]

Not as long as CC Sabbathia is pitching the way he has been.

[beaner]

Halladay is a beast. Not flashy, but as good as it gets. He's just pitched for a team that no one has cared about since the strike, and that's a shame.

[Dracula]

Halladay is awesome...I think he's my favorite pitcher right now in the majors.

[whatdoiget000]

Yeah, it sucks that he's in limbo in Toronto. He lives up to the hype that Wang and Beckett get.

[DrungoHazewood]

Here's an interesting thing about Halladay... in innings 7-9 he has an opponent's OPS of .714. The league OPS overall is 754, so Halladay in the late innings isn't that much better than an average AL pitcher. Toronto's overall opponent's OPS in innings 7-9 is .672.

Yes, it's valuable that he can go more innings than anyone else. It helps save the pen for other situations. But technically, if all you're trying to do is win one game, Toronto is better off going to the pen in the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning than having Halladay out there.

That's the reason we have bullpens. They win more games, even more than the most durable starters trying to go nine.

[Frobby]

Here's an interesting thing about Halladay... in innings 7-9 he has an opponent's OPS of .714. The league OPS overall is 754, so Halladay in the late innings isn't that much better than an average AL pitcher. Toronto's overall opponent's OPS in innings 7-9 is .672.

Yes, it's valuable that he can go more innings than anyone else. It helps save the pen for other situations. But technically, if all you're trying to do is win one game, Toronto is better off going to the pen in the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning than having Halladay out there.

That's the reason we have bullpens. They win more games, even more than the most durable starters trying to go nine.

The issue would be, how many times has Halladay lost a late lead, or blown a tie late? I count three games where he gave up the lead in the 6th inning or later, plus two where a tie was broken late in the game.

On balance, I'll take Halladay's approach any time because it saves the bullpen for other days.

[Sanfran327]

Is he the best pitcher in baseball right now? While he doesn't have the ERA that some others have can you attribute that to the fact that he has the mentality of "I'm in here to pitch 9 and win." If I were in the 7th game of the WS, I think he's the guy I want out there more than anyone else.

I like Halladay, but there's nobody on earth that's better in the playoffs than Josh Beckett.

[oriole_way]

Here's an interesting thing about Halladay... in innings 7-9 he has an opponent's OPS of .714. The league OPS overall is 754, so Halladay in the late innings isn't that much better than an average AL pitcher. Toronto's overall opponent's OPS in innings 7-9 is .672.

Yes, it's valuable that he can go more innings than anyone else. It helps save the pen for other situations. But technically, if all you're trying to do is win one game, Toronto is better off going to the pen in the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning than having Halladay out there.

That's the reason we have bullpens. They win more games, even more than the most durable starters trying to go nine.

The issue would be, how many times has Halladay lost a late lead, or blown a tie late? I count three games where he gave up the lead in the 6th inning or later, plus two where a tie was broken late in the game.

On balance, I'll take Halladay's approach any time because it saves the bullpen for other days.

I kind of agree with Frobby here. If Halladay's team is leading, say 5-1, in the late innings and he gives up a couple of runs, who really cares? And if the bullpen is fully rested for the following day's game, that's got to increase their chances of winning that game as well. Not to mention that the bullpen has a better chance to stay healthy and effective throughout the season. (Maybe Toronto's overall opponents OPS in innings 7-9 is .672 partly because they get a bit more rest due to Halladay.)

[oriole_way]

I like Halladay, but there's nobody on earth that's better in the playoffs than Josh Beckett.

But maybe Halladay would pitch just as well if his team was in the playoffs every year. He just doesn't get the opportunities. In fact, he hasn't even been to the postseason once.