A Pair of Aces

Last week when CC Sabathia signed a huge contract with the Yankees I thought it would be fun to do a comparasion of Sabathia and Johan Santana. After all Sabathia's contract surpassed Santana's as the richest in the game for pitchers. Also with Sabathia in the Bronx and Santana in Queens the argument can be a 21st century version of Willie, Mickey or the Duke? Doing statistical comparasions are fairly simple. But chooseing what stat and how many becomes challenging. I selected mostly tradional stats with a few of the "new" stats thrown in for the sabermetically inclined. All the numbers in the chart are for the last 4 seasons. The OBA against and OPS against are an average of the past 4 seasons. Comparing these two pitchers also is very straight foward for two reasons 1.Since they played in the same division for 3 out the 4 years and the same league for 3.5 out of 4 they faced essentially the same level of competition 2.Progressive field in Cleveland, Miller Park in Milwaukee and the Metrodome in Minnesota are all offensively nuetral parks. One one season Santana spent at Shea a pitchers park gives him a very slight advantage. But its not like comparing pitchers whose home park was like Coors (great offense) and Safeco(great pitchers). So here goes

Stat Johan Santana CC Sabathia

W-L 66-33 63-38

IP 919.3 883.3

H 755 811

K/BB 924/203 793/206

WHIP 1.04 1.15

ERA 2.87 3.61

OBA Against 266 295

HRS Yielded 102 75

Quality Starts 72% 66%



All Star Games 3 2

Cy Youngs 2 1

Win Shares 85 74

Like the commercial says past performance does not guarentee future performance. But the chart is clear Santana has been a clearly superior pitcher the past 4 seasons. The only advantage to CC is HRs allowed.

In my research I came across a few interesting things about both pitchers. As for CC ,one concern I'd have would be his weight. I ckecked 50 years of Cy Young winners and only found 2 besides CC who have comparable weight, LaMar Hoyt and Pete Vukovich. For those of us old enough to remember those guys they had a few big years but then became injury prone. Was it the weight? All I know is pitching is tough enough on the human body. Pitching at 300 lbs. is a recipe for future problems. Another interesting tidbit is the Yanks should send Cleveland a thank you note. Sabathia surpassed 200 innings for the first time in 2007. So his arm does not have the same wear and tear that other pitchers who came up to the big leagues at a young age have. Finally a big X factor is how will CC handle New York. Pretty much anyone who will read this either has lived in New York or Boston. Baseball in these cities is akin to a religion and the pressure on CC will be immense. Everytime he takes the hill people will expect a shutout. Most fans will probably have unattainable expectations for him due to his contract. Up until now he has played in small to mid market mid western cities. And he is from California. So how he deals with playing in the Bronx will be key to his success.

As for Johan the thing that stood out for me is just how consistant he has been. If you look at his numbers they are very similar from year to year. Even the two weaknesses 1.Pitching in April 2.HRs allowed are consistant from year to year. Proof of this consistantcy is he has recieved votes for Cy Young every year since he became a starter in 2003. As a comparasion Sabathia won the award in 2007 and recieved votes in 2008 but thats it. Lastly I came across an interesting stat last year in his LOSSES his ERA was still under 3. The last thing I thought about Johan is with the Mets moving into Citi Field(UGH) and there being a large fence his HRs allowed should drop.

So what can we expect in the future? Simply put the Yanks needed Sabathia. The rotation was a mess and he gives them a legimate ace. Sabathia should be a perinial contender for an All Star spot. Though I would not be suprised if he only he notches maybe 1 more Cy Young. Also towards the end of his contact in 2014 24 million dollars a year may buy you someone like Dustin McGowan or Adam Wainright. As for Santana he is the best pitcher in the game. If the bullpen was not so awful he would have just recieved in 3rd Cy Young.

If anyone likes these kinds of comparsion pieces let me know. It was fun to do.