He's been top 6 in ERA 8 times in his career. He's been top 5 in WHIP 9 times in his career. He's been top 10 in strikeouts per 9 innings in a season 9 times as well. If he puts together one or two more very good seasons and a couple more decent ones, he will get in.
That's all good, but he's NEVER top 3 in anything. A Hall of Famer has to be consistently at the top of his position. It's not the Hall of Very Good. Mussina is an odd case, in the sense that he's never fallen up, but he doesn't have blow you away numbers and he's lacking the benchmarks. No CY Young, No 20 games, no no-hitters. -X-
He did come within a strike of a perfect game against Boston though Say he does win 20 games this year, and the Yankees win the World Series; then does he make it?
What do you mean by never top 3 in anything? He's been in the top 3 of many statistics through out his career. Top 3 ERA - 4 times Top 3 Wins - 4 times Top 3 WHIP - 5 times Top 3 K/9 - 2 times Top 3 BB/9 - 4 times Top 3 K - 3 times Top 3 shutouts - 5 times Top 3 K/BB - 8 times Top 3 ERA+ - 3 times His consistency is his greatest advantage, and he has been top 4-5 many other times through out his career. After this year, a lot of those #'s above will go up because he's having a strong year. He's looking for a 3 year contract after this year, so if he can win 40-45 games in that time span to get to around 280-285, and reach 3,000 Ks (he's over 2500 now), with an ERA possible <3.6 in the AL in this era, a case can certainly be made for him.
The case can be made, but he has to last. It's feasable, but as it stands now, it's not happening. Hey, he could win 20 games this year and that might be enough, but he's not getting any younger. -X-
Stats play an important part of whether or not a player gets in. A thing that really seals it for me is the X-Factor. The "it". Some players have it and some players don't. Of the pitchers of his generation where does mussina fall in the answer to this question: "Who do you want to be the Ace of your staff?". For me moose isn't even a consideration for that question. So I don't see why he would be a consideration for the Hall.
I agree with you. Had he pitched his whole career the way he has this year, then he would be automatic. However, given that while he has been an above average pitcher his whole career, he has been poor in big games. He doesn't have the "it" or at least didn't until recently, but it's a bit late for that now.
Poor in big games? He's certainly had more good post-season games than poor, he's not 50/50 in the playoffs like Pettitte. And as far as not getting "it" until recently (whatever that means), this isn't his best year with the Yankees. He's had two better years with the team.
Moose was bad in important games while in Baltimore. He always seemed to choke on pressure. He just happened to be one of those guys who was made better by the pinstripes. As far as having two better years, maybe stats-wise, but no way have his actual pitches been nastier. That knuckle-curve is absolutely awe-inspiring this year. I wish he would teach that pitch to all the Yankee pitchers. That is one of the nastiest offspeed pitches I have ever seen.
Moose was good in the playoffs, but the thing is, sample size is so small for playoff starts that it's very difficult to say whether someone is clutch in the playoffs or not. Moose has been fine.
Mussina's '96 post-season was a little shaky (although, I remember he only struggled against the Yankees because he ran out of gas in the 8th and Johnson waited too long to take him out), but in '97 he was as dominant as you can be for such a small sample size: 29 IP, 4 ER, 11 H, 7 BB, 41 K. Also this year he's probably better than in 2003, but he was awesome in 2001, definitely his best year as a Yankee (statistically and the overall bite on his pitches). He should have had 20 wins easy that year, but received horrible run support. Clemens won the CY, and he wasn't even the best starter on his own team. Mussina or Garcia deserved it that year.
