With last night's 8-3 win over Pittsburgh at PNC Park, Jake Arrieta won his ninth game of the season. He's now tied with eight others (including Roy Halladay of the Phillies) for the league lead in wins. So as I said in the title, should he be given consideration for the all-star game? Survey says: yes...he should be given consideration. (AL manager Ron Washington might want to consider Arrieta for his bat seeing that the game is in an NL park! Arrieta blooped an RBI-single the opposite way to right field in the first inning last night.) Arrieta's ERA is 4.50, which is not exactly where one would expect an all-star caliber pitcher to register. Furthermore, his issue thus far in 2011 has been endurance, and that was further evidenced last night. Manager Buck Showalter removed him after the necessary five innings in order to qualify for a win due to the fact that it was a sticky night in Pittsburgh (Arrieta had only thrown 87 pitches). That is of some concern for the Orioles given that we're just starting to get into the time of year where the weather gets hot and sticky for long periods of time.
You might read the above paragraph and wonder when I'm even asking the question as to whether or not Arrieta should go to the all-star game. That's just me playing devil's advocate. The fact is that the guy's tied for the league lead in wins. How can someone like that not make the team or at least not get consideration? Not only does Arrieta have the wins to qualify, but in my opinion he also has the "stuff." His fastball is consistantly in the low to mid-90's, and as each start goes by he seems to be getting better and better command of the zone. However going back to the wins and losses for a moment, isn't that the most important statistic? I've always thought that people who pay too much attention to stats like ERA are over-thinking things too much. I'm not suggesting that it's not important, however if you have a pitcher with a five-run ERA that wins 15 games...which is more important, the ERA or the wins? Odds are that guy plays on a team with a gifted offense, however the fact is that he's put his team in a position to win those 15 games.
To draw a comparison to football, I could care less if a quarterback throws three interceptions each week so long as he still wins the game. In the mid-1980's the Washington Redskins were playing the NY Giants at RFK Stadium and Joe Theismann threw three picks in the first half (and had his two front teeth knocked out). However after halftime Theismann led the team out of the dressing room and brought them back to win. What do people remember, the interceptions or the victory? Brett Favre is without a doubt one of the game's all-time great quarterbacks, and one that I was priviledged to see play in person. He also threw 300+ interceptions in his career, and NFL record. Again which is more important, the picks or the fact that Favre gave us a lifetime worth of wins and memories?
Let me go on record as saying that I don't believe Arrieta will go to the all-star game. One thing that nobody can argue he has is star power. Brett Favre could have thrown 30 interceptions in a season and he still probably would have gone to the Pro Bowl because of his star power. While this doesn't apply for pitchers, I think it's a joke that the fans get to vote. It's easy enough to say that if more Yankee fans vote than Oriole fans then Matt Wieters has his own fanbase to thank for the fact that Russell Martin is the starting AL catcher. However the idea behind an all-star team is to pick the best statistical players (from the first half of the season). In the case of catcher, that would be Matt Wieters. While perhaps not a starter, Adam Jones should be on the team as well, along with Jake Arrieta. We know that the Orioles will have at least one representative, however I suppose my point is that most people's attitudes will probably be that they can't get all of those Orioles on the roster because they have to make sure that David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Russell Martin get on the team. If you want further evidence of the fact that the all-star game is a beauty contest, the leading vote-getter for catcher in the American League is Russell Martin. He's followed by Joe Mauer, who's only played six games this year. So...if we go only by the fans' vote, Mauer's on the roster and Wieters sits at home? That's fair, isn't it?
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