The Breakdown: Is Santana really THAT good?

Written by Colin on January 31, 2008 – 7:50 am

In our quest to determine exactly how much Johan Santana actually adds to the Mets’ starting rotation, we’re going to delve into the their starting rotation before - and after - Santana came into the picture. In honesty, looking at the rotation, Santana is replacing Tom Glavine after his return to the Braves. The other four starting slots are more than likely to stay the same - Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Orlando Hernandez round out the rotation.

Let’s look at their stats from the last two seasons combined:

Tom Glavine - 28-15, 398.3 innings pitched, 4.14 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 220 strikeouts, 39 double plays induced, and 45 quality starts (68%).

Johan Santana - 34-19, 452.7 innings pitched, 3.05 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 480 strikeouts, 24 double plays induced, and 45 quality starts (64%).

Clearly Santana is more of a power pitcher than Glavine - it doesn’t take rocket science to figure that out. It’s also clear that Santana is a better pitcher right now than Glavine is - but we all knew that. My point is that though Santana is a good power pitcher, he’s not the one factor that will propel the Mets into the world series - and it’s not guaranteed he’ll make them the team to beat in the NL overall. I don’t think you can make that claim of a player that pitches once every five days.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not happy with the prospect of the Braves facing Santana multiple times this year. I think he makes their rotation much better - not something to be taken lightly. I’ll have to revise my team and division analysis because of the trade, for sure.

I just don’t think he’s the one element that will take a team to the World Series. If he were, the Twins would have won several already.

One player does not a World Champion make - doesn’t matter if the player is Cy Young himself.

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