Is R.A Dickey the best pitcher in baseball right now?

[Zmaster52]

He's close to the lead in nearly every big statistic and with another 8 shutout innings of double digit Ks, he's making a solid bid for a first half Cy Young.

[waveycrockett]

I'm a huge Met fan. But no chance.

[Fly]

I think Greinke holds that title. Better FIP, xFIP, HR/9, BB/9 and their K/9 are basically the same.

[waveycrockett]

I think Greinke holds that title. Better FIP, xFIP, HR/9, BB/9 and their K/9 are basically the same.

I'm not so sure after this game tho fangraphs is pretty slow to update.

[yfern328]

I think Greinke holds that title. Better FIP, xFIP, HR/9, BB/9 and their K/9 are basically the same.

When these numbers look the same, and the stats you point out are marginal differences, you've gotta go with traditional scouting. Hitters look absolutely perplexed when they have to deal with Dickey. Additionally, throw out 2 of Dickey's starts, 1 against the Yankees and 1 against the Braves, and his numbers are unreal. To be fair, you can eliminate Greinke's games against Arizona and Chicago. Dickey has put up a lot more shutout innings than Greinke. All the stats you brought up are very, very close with the exception of the FIP and HR/9. Naturally you expect a team to hit a knuckleball out more often than a fastball, so basically since the xFIP are so close and all the other stats are so close, I'm giving the nod to Dickey. Additionally, tonight's game wasn't counted. Guys have no idea at all how to approach him in the batter's box.

[Mousedog332]

Yes

[ramfan63074]

Greinke is good but he isn't even one of the top 3 in baseball right now..Matt Cain has been impressive..Cain and Dickey are basically the same pitcher so I am voting with them being 1 and 2 with Verlander being 3

[hgtiger32]

Good lord, what an embarrassing thread. No. Just no

[waveycrockett]

Good lord, what an embarrassing thread. No. Just no

Embarrassing for who? Have you followed baseball this year?

[metswon69]

Good lord, what an embarrassing thread. No. Just no

Seriously dude, i mean they had this argument already about who the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young and i'll give you there are other horses in this race and advanced metrics favor Greinke but the eye test favors Dickey.

Did you see his statline?

He is now 12-1 with a 2.15 ERA, with a whip of .88, 116 k's in 113 innings, and .190 BAA against.

He's had 2 bad starts all season, and the rest of the time has been pretty close to dominant and hitters look foolish at the plate against Dickey it seems game after game.

I know there is a lot of anti-NY bias here, but it's hard not to consider him the most dominant SP in both leagues to this point.

[Superdude]

Was Tim Wakefield the best pitcher in '96?

Man you people have some short *** ****ing memories

[metswon69]

Was Tim Wakefield the best pitcher in '96?

Man you people have some short *** ****ing memories

It was 95' where Wakefield had his best season by the way and he wasn't nearly as good that season as Dickey is this year.

He didn't average a K per inning, have a Whip of under 1, have a SO/BB ratio of nearly 4.5 to 1 during any season of his career, in fact he never came close to those numbers even in his best years.

Wakefield also never threw an 80mph knuckleball and only won 16 games that whole year where as Dickey has 12 wins already in June.

There is really no comparison at all between Dickey and Wakefield besides the fact that they throw knuckleballs, aside from that they are completely different.

[Brewer94]

Yes. Wanna know why?



I said so.

[Toxeryll]

no

[Federal Reserve]

The Yankees exposed Dickey as an average pitcher. Pitchers who play in the NL shouldn't be included in the conversation of elite pitchers.