What is an ace? I defy anyone to give me a concrete, reasonable definition of "ace" that is based strictly on performance while playing the game of baseball.
Olney, apparently, thinks almost everyone is an ace. Included on his list ("Here's a rundown of aces whose teams are still in contention"):
Tim Hudson (WHIP of 1.35)
Mark Mulder (WHIP of 1.36)
Jon Lieber (ERA of 4.22)
Freddy Garcia (ERA of 3.91)
Mike Mussina (ERA of 4.41, WHIP of 1.37)
David Wells (ERA of 4.47, WHIP of 1.32)
C.C. Sabathia (ERA of 4.20)
Cliff Lee (ERA of 3.90)
Yes, I'm cherry-picking the most egregious stats. Yes, ERA and WHIP are imperfect measures of a pitcher's performance. But the league-average ERA is 4.30. The league-average WHIP is 1.37. Some of these guys are as bad as or worse than average.
In the spirit of Olney's generosity, I'm going to give you a list of FJM's staff aces:
Ken Tremendous
dak
Matthew Murbles
Junior
Coach
Anthony Baseball
Mark Bellhorn
America's Sweetheart
Spinoza
Board Administrator
Also, Buster ignored AL ERA leader (in a statistical dead heat with Johan Santana) Kevin Millwood while including two other pitchers from the Cleveland staff. Whatever Millwood is, HE'S NOT AN ACE.
Labels: aces, buster olney
