OPINION: The End of an Era
Three baseball giants are nearing the end of their pitching careers. Gone with them may be the career 200-game winner. Computers, agents, and quick hooks are hurting the game.
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
Baseball fans are witnessing the end of an era.
Three quality Major League pitchers – Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw – are nearing the ends of their careers. All three have win totals that may never be matched again.
All three are, without question, headed to the Hall of Fame.
Verlander (42), a Goochland High graduate and Old Dominion University alumnus, has 263 wins in a career where injuries have plagued his attempt to attain the revered 300-win plateau.
Of more importance, at least to baseball purists, Verlander has won over 100 more games than he has lost, something hurlers like Greg Maddux were extremely proud of.
This is almost certainly Verlander’s last season. He is currently 1-9 with the San Francisco Giants and it is obvious his fastball is gone. To pitch longer might mean losing that “100 wins over losses” mark (he has lost 156 games).
Scherzer (41) and Kershaw (37) could hang in there another year or two, although the latter has also been plagued with injuries throughout his career. Scherzer, now with Toronto, is 3-2 this season, is also over the coveted “100 more wins than losses” mark with a 219-114 record.
Kershaw’s record is even more impressive, with 218 wins and only 96 losses. If he can hold on for three more years, the Dodger lefthander could possibly overtake Verlander in career wins. Given his past arm problems, however, 15 wins a year in today’s baseball world seems unlikely.
The point of all this is that after Verlander, Scherzer and Kershaw, we may never see another 250-win pitcher – ever. Baseball has changed that much. Hurlers no longer get the chances for wins that they once did.
It used to be – even two decades ago - that pitchers who gave up three or four runs in the early innings we left in there to clean up their own messes, to work themselves out of trouble. Now, almost on a nightly basis, I watch managers yank a quality hurler in the fourth or fifth inning without giving him a chance to settle down and find his groove.
A starter who doesn’t go five innings doesn’t qualify for a win.
Verlander, Scherzer and Kershaw have all had 20-win seasons. In an era where a pitcher gets a standing ovation for going only six innings, 20-win seasons are almost as rare as complete games.
Check the list. After Kershaw comes Gerrit Cole (34) with 153 wins followed by 41-year-old Charlie Morton with 145. And the numbers go down from there.
At 12 wins a year, Cole could reach 225 wins. But if he keeps getting pulled early, he won’t get that many win opportunities.
Managers no longer go by instinct, they go by the computer, the advice of some doctor, and the demands of the player’s agent.
“Throwing more than 100 pitches will ruin his arm!”
“The computer says he will fail if he faces the lineup for a third time.”
“You run the pitch count up and ruin my pitcher and I lose my 10 percent commission!”
What’s a manager to do?
And pitchers are taught to believe all this stuff. They have no faith in their abilities after 100 pitches. They are ready to give up without a fight. What happened to the Nolan Ryans, the Bob Gibsons and Randy Johnsons, pitchers with heart and pride?
Part of the problem is that today’s pitchers are taught to nibble. Check how many 3-2 counts there are in a game today. You throw strikes and your pitch count (I hate that phrase) stays down. I watched a Mets pitcher walk five guys in one inning the other night. That’s absurd. Throw the ball over the plate! Make something happen.
Yes, pitching has changed and Verlander, Scherzer and Kershaw are the last of a dying breed.
Cy Young won 511 games by throwing strikes. Walter Johnson won 417 games with his fastball. He also had more than 500 complete games.
Today you go six innings giving up four runs or less and you’re a hero.
Baseball has lost its perspective.
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