That's one reason I'm not too worried about the Evil Empire's latest attempt to buy a World Series title. Has there ever been a worse playoff performer than CC Sabathia???

Ed, I think you're missing the point. Do you really believe Sabathia is incapable of pitching well after September based on 25 innings? Also, what was more of a factor for the Brewers actually MAKING the post season last year: CC's domination, or Jeff Suppan's 15 kick-ass innings in the 2006 NLCS?

You think it's easy to write a baseball column in January?

At least he came up with something on his own.

I saw on some website a guy who had to resort to writing an article about some other guys article.

Hey great point.

I guess the only difference is that sports writing is Nick's livelihood while we write for the satisfaction we derive from providing free content for a gracious readership.

Hey, Sully *did* come up with his own article. Why isn't it original to disagree with somebody else, especially when making a specific point?

I'm obviously biased but I think the "win me 79 games and a World Series title" was brilliant. Great job, Sully.

I thought it was a fun excersise. Though you might be pushing 79 wins....
I for one am always happy for free content.

I think you should have Jim Beattie in your rotation as he was 2-0 in 2 starts with a 1.88 ERA. And how can we leave off Don Larsen (4-2, 2.75) or Hector Lopez (.869 OPS) as the DH?

Mitch...yeah I realize it's a small sample size. But it's not like CC has been somewhat bad in the playoffs. He's been absolutely horrendous.

so which rotation would have you take in a playoff series if your life depends on it?

Jeff Suppan, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Weaver (2006!), Jamie Moyer.

or

CC Sabathia, Jake Peavy (0-2, 12.1 (!!) ERA, not including a similiarly bad outting in that one game playoff in 07), Carlos Zambrano (1-3 4.34), Chien-Ming Wang (0-3 7.58)

Actually, guys like Moyer / Rogers / Weavers are very very good examples of why it IS a crapshoot, Rogers had one of the worest start ever to a post season career, in his first 8 outtings he ended up with a 9.47 ERA, and in his first 5 appearance it was almost 13 ERA. yet in his last 4 outting he has not given up a single run, and 3 of them were starts over 7 inning!!!

That's not to say that if a guy really does incrediablly well in the playoff with a significant sample (say, Curt Schilling) doesn't deserve extra credit, but using previous success (or lack of) in a small playoff sample instead of a much larger regular season sample is simply dumb.

dont forget willie harris.
OPS 2.0 and 1 SB/2 games.

Let's not forget Ralph Terry. In his first 5 World Series appearances he went 0-4. To be fair, he pitched pretty well in a few of them, but lost anyway, and in one case the loss was after coming in in relief. That, of course, was the Mazeroski home run.

In 1961, against the Reds, he lost the only game the Yankees dropped (again, pitching well, I admit) and then was unable to hold a 6-0 lead in the 3rd inning and had to be relieved in game 5.

You can imagine the common wisdom of the day regarding his lack of clutch pitching despite his excellent records during the regular season. Of course, he then went on to win game 5 and a complete game 1-0 game 7 against the Giants in 1962.

I think it's more likely that Sabathia has sucked in the postseason because he's just so tired. The last two years, he has thrown so many innings just getting his team there that he's had nothing left.

In 2007, he threw 241 innings, finished strong, but emptied his tank and then was AWFUL in 3 postseason starts.

In 2008, he threw 253 innings, including his well-documented late-September starts on short rest. He had to push so hard to get to the postseason that, again, he had nothing left and fell flat in October.

Of course, there is no way for me to prove that he pitched poorly specifically because the innings took their toll at that exact moment. And like I said, he finished strong both years right before his playoff collapses, so what difference could one or two more starts have made? Well, I think one or two more starts (against top competition in the playoffs) was one or two too many, and that that is why he's failed in the postseason, and not necessarily because he isn't a "postseason pitcher" or because he can't handle the the "postseason pressure."

Will the same happen with the Yankees? The easy answer is no, because they are so deep that they can find a way to rest him more than a team like the Brewers (who NEEDED him). However, if he throws another 225+ innings this year, I'm willing to bet that he falls flat in the postseason again - assuming the Yankees make it.

Don't forget to add these guys to the Scraptaculars: Charlie Silvera, Bob Cerv, George Selkirk, Gene Woodling, etc. Count the rings, baby!
And stay away from Ted Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, and A-Rod. Obviously their years of excellence must all be flukes, given that they have no rings.

Does Paul O'Neill belong on that list? His career SLG is 54 points above league average for the time during which he played, 23 points above the positional average. His career OBP is 26 points above league average, 20 points above the positional average. He created .6 of a run more per game than the average player at his position, so a team of O'Neills would win about 9 to 11 games more than a team of average rightfielders. He created nearly a full run more game when compared against the league, good for 16 to 18 wins above average. I don't have his fielding metrics available, but I remember that he annually ranked high in the STAT ratings, often in the top three for his position. It seems to me that he was far more productive than any player on that list.