not sure why it would pain anybody to admit that wins are a silly stat by which to measure a pitchers worth, or why muddy up a perfectly sane POV with hesitant stuff like "probably," "to be honest," and "i just feel like," but hey... whatever spreads the word:

Back in the olden days, BFB (Before Fantasy Baseball), there were only a few stats that people really talked about: wins, losses, ERA, walks and strikeouts.

Now fantasy geeks (and I use that term lovingly and affectionately, being one myself and being married to one for good measure) blithely throw around terms like WHIP and OPS and "pitch or ditch."

As a result, sometimes when I look at a stat line there are so many numbers that it can be hard to just extrapolate and pull out the ones that really "matter," that really tell me about a pitcher's individual effectiveness. And that is what I am trying to look for when narrowing down the candidates for that Pitcher of the Year award.

So it pains me to admit this, and I know I am probably in the minority here, but to be honest the number in the W column and, to a lesser extent, the number next to it in the L column are among the last stats I take into account when making that selection.

I want to judge a pitcher purely on what he's responsible for.

I feel like, much of the time, wins and losses are largely out of a pitcher's control. He's the one that throws strikes (or doesn't). He's the one getting the batters out (or not). But he can't control whether his team scores runs for him, or whether they make the plays behind him. [lisa winston]