Winning Is What It's All About

[I was late in seeing this, but I still thought it was worth mentioning. Balester gave up one hit in 5 IP and got the win, by the way. He was knocked around his next time out, but that's besides the point.]

And I thought that we had all moved beyond the point where Wins are the way a pitcher's talent is measured.

"Jim Bowden was honest with Collin Balester in Spring Training when he told the Nationals' pitching prospect that he wanted to see wins, not just good pitching. Balester took it to heart, and on Tuesday night, he will for the first time in his life be called upon as a Major League pitcher...

"'If you want to get to us,' he told Balester, 'you have to win. I don't want to see .500 down there with great stuff. What does that do for me?'"

That's from an MLB.com article, and the guy from FireJimBowden is not happy.

"Even if JimBo's not really relying on W-L record to evaluate pitchers in the way he says (in which case, I don't know why he's saying it), what does that do to a kid's head to be told, in essence, "your future as a major-leaguer is largely out of your hands. You can pitch great. Do everything right in your power, and if you don't get run support, or if the defense makes Es, or if the bullpen blows your leads... we will blame you." If you're Balester, I don't know how else you'd take it."

I might have reacted similarly if Bowden was the O's GM. While I don't know if Andy MacPhail is eschewing Wins completely in favor of FIP and the like, I have to think he's ahead of Bowden in this respect.