The [ridiculous] love affair with Nolan Ryan and the Rangers

RocketMania1991 · Oct 26, 2010

Rangers are trash.

Buck Turgidson · Oct 26, 2010

justtxyank said:

Perhaps that's true, but Nolan Ryan isn't beloved outside of Texas the way he is inside Texas.
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He received both the highest vote% in Hall of Fame history by the BBWAA and the highest fan vote total among pitchers for the All-Century Team, which is ridiculous. He's pretty much a nationwide baseball icon. I'd argue that his aura exceeds his career, as good as it was. "Larger than life" would seem to be a fitting description.

ryan17wagner · Oct 26, 2010

justtxyank said:

One thing that has made me sick in this whole Rangers run to the ALCS is the ridiculous love affair between the media and the Rangers/Nolan Ryan. Ever since the concepts of pitch counts and the caution with young pitchers came in to being, old school baseball writers and a lot of fans (largely the ones that hate statistics) have bemoaned the fact that the glory days of the complete game pitcher seemed to be gone.

Enter Nolan Ryan in Texas. Ryan publicly talked about letting young pitchers just pitch and doing away with pitch counts. Now that the Rangers are going to the World Series, a large portion of the media and a lot of fans are saying it is that attitude that changed the Rangers. That Ryan empowered his young pitchers to just go out there and throw, pitch counts be damned, innings limits be damned. That formula equals success.

Except there is a problem with that. That formula didn't equal success, because that formula wasn't used.

Facts:
1) The Texas Rangers led the major leagues in innings pitched by the bullpen
2) Only two Rangers pitchers pitched more than 200 innings, CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis
3) The "caution with young pitchers" argument is summarized by the Verducci Effect which applies to pitchers 25 years old and younger. It states that sharp increases in innings by pitchers in this age range from one year to the next increases the chance of arm injury. Only one pitcher on the Rangers had a sharp increase in his innings total, CJ Wilson. His was dramatic of course, over 100 more innings pitched this year vs any other year of his career. This seems to laugh in the face of the Verducci Effect, correct? No. CJ Wilson is 29 years old, outside of the range covered under the Verducci Effect.

In summary, Nolan Ryan didn't do anything with the Rangers pitchers that should get him laud or praise or change the way we think of pitchers in baseball. The Rangers ran with a pretty common formula. Let your best pitchers pitch around 200 innings and let your bullpen pitch whenever they are needed. The credit for the Rangers success shouldn't go to some mythical change in baseball attitude about pitching, it should go to an astute general manager who made outstanding decisions to sign Colby Lewis out of Japan, get Nelson Cruz and play him, gamble on Josh Hamilton, get a fantastic haul in a franchise player trade (Teixeira), sign Vlad Guerrero to be the DH and then make a trade for a legit ace in Cliff Lee. The Rangers are in the World Series because their GM has been on an amazing run of good decisions, not because Nolan Ryan doesn't like pitch counts.
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*yawn*

What else is going on in the world?

ryan17wagner · Oct 26, 2010

RocketMania1991 said:

Rangers are trash.
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Nolan Ryan and the Rangers are going to be World Series champions.

Mr. Brightside · Oct 26, 2010

justtxyank said:

One thing that has made me sick in this whole Rangers run to the ALCS is the ridiculous love affair between the media and the Rangers/Nolan Ryan. Ever since the concepts of pitch counts and the caution with young pitchers came in to being, old school baseball writers and a lot of fans (largely the ones that hate statistics) have bemoaned the fact that the glory days of the complete game pitcher seemed to be gone.

Enter Nolan Ryan in Texas. Ryan publicly talked about letting young pitchers just pitch and doing away with pitch counts. Now that the Rangers are going to the World Series, a large portion of the media and a lot of fans are saying it is that attitude that changed the Rangers. That Ryan empowered his young pitchers to just go out there and throw, pitch counts be damned, innings limits be damned. That formula equals success.

Except there is a problem with that. That formula didn't equal success, because that formula wasn't used.

Facts:
1) The Texas Rangers led the major leagues in innings pitched by the bullpen
2) Only two Rangers pitchers pitched more than 200 innings, CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis
3) The "caution with young pitchers" argument is summarized by the Verducci Effect which applies to pitchers 25 years old and younger. It states that sharp increases in innings by pitchers in this age range from one year to the next increases the chance of arm injury. Only one pitcher on the Rangers had a sharp increase in his innings total, CJ Wilson. His was dramatic of course, over 100 more innings pitched this year vs any other year of his career. This seems to laugh in the face of the Verducci Effect, correct? No. CJ Wilson is 29 years old, outside of the range covered under the Verducci Effect.

In summary, Nolan Ryan didn't do anything with the Rangers pitchers that should get him laud or praise or change the way we think of pitchers in baseball. The Rangers ran with a pretty common formula. Let your best pitchers pitch around 200 innings and let your bullpen pitch whenever they are needed. The credit for the Rangers success shouldn't go to some mythical change in baseball attitude about pitching, it should go to an astute general manager who made outstanding decisions to sign Colby Lewis out of Japan, get Nelson Cruz and play him, gamble on Josh Hamilton, get a fantastic haul in a franchise player trade (Teixeira), sign Vlad Guerrero to be the DH and then make a trade for a legit ace in Cliff Lee. The Rangers are in the World Series because their GM has been on an amazing run of good decisions, not because Nolan Ryan doesn't like pitch counts.
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Great analysis. Repped.

Agent94 · Oct 27, 2010

I hate the fact that John McMullen did not pay Ryan. He should have finished his career as an Astro. I hated seeing him set all his career records in a Rangers uniform.

Buck Turgidson · Oct 27, 2010

Agent94 said:

I hated seeing him set all his career records in a Rangers uniform.
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The 3 main records he holds, most strikeouts, walks and no-hitters, he broke as an Astro.

Surfguy · Oct 27, 2010

Agent94 said:

I hate the fact that John McMullen did not pay Ryan. He should have finished his career as an Astro. I hated seeing him set all his career records in a Rangers uniform.
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Astros are notorious for finding reasons not to re-sign pitchers. Then, they usually counter letting go of a solid pitcher by bringing in another pitcher who chokes an entire season. Then, the pitcher the Astros didn't bother to pay is having a good year on their new team.

In Ryan's case, I just remember the anger when they did not re-sign him. He should have been a part of the Astros organization for life. Instead, he became a lifelong Ranger. That is one of the worst moves in Astros history imo.

Dumbass Astros management always tries to guess how the pitcher is going to do in the next couple of seasons as to whether they offer enough money or a guaranteed second year. Same goes for some quality bats in the past that we let go. My viewpoint is when the Astros evaluate talent like Ryan or Pettitte arriving at the conclusion that they don't have enough of what it takes going forward...they should do the opposite of what they are thinking and just get them signed...because chances are high it is going to backfire on them and they are going to bring in a worse option at comparable money.

MadMax · Oct 27, 2010

ryan17wagner said:

*yawn*

What else is going on in the world?
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BREAKING NEWS: YOU'RE BACK AT DOUCECON-3!!!

DaDakota · Oct 27, 2010

NERDS !

DD

Joshfast · Oct 27, 2010

They treated him better then they treated JR Richard.

DarkHorse · Oct 27, 2010

That was a nice 4 and a half inning complete game there by Cliff Lee.

DontTradeOswalt · Oct 27, 2010

ryan17wagner said:

Nolan Ryan and the Rangers are going to be World Series champions.
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Uhh ohh...

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The [ridiculous] love affair with Nolan Ryan and the Rangers

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