Welcome to Day 3 of Padres Pitcher Smackdown. Day 2 saw Dave Dravecky winning handily over Clay Kirby. Their peaks were fairly similar, but Dravecky’s overall numbers were better, albeit over a shorter period of time. Dravecky also gets points for being a solid contributor to the 1984 World Series squad and for serving as an inspiration after his playing career — even though the latter didn’t happen while he was with the Padres, it still speaks well of his character, and that counts for something.
Kirby, for his part, had some truly dominant performances for some truly horrendous Padres teams. Unfortunately he also was extremely inconsistent. I don’t know if anyone who reads Ducksnorts ever got a chance to see Kirby pitch, but his numbers paint the picture of a better, healthier Adam Eaton. My guess is that fans didn’t find Kirby as exasperating as Eaton because they were just happy to have a big-league team in town and had no serious aspirations of, well, anything.
Here is the schedule for the entire week:
- Monday: Gaylord Perry vs Dave Roberts
- Tuesday: Dave Dravecky vs Clay Kirby
- Wednesday: Bruce Hurst vs Jake Peavy
- Thursday: Andy Ashby vs Eric Show
- Friday: Andy Benes vs Ed Whitson
Today’s matchup features a southpaw from Utah, Bruce Hurst, and a righty from Alabama, Jake Peavy:
| Year(s) | GS | IP | ERA | ERA+ | WS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career with Padres | 1989-1993 | 131 | 911.2 | 3.27 | 113 | 59 |
| Best year with Padres | 1989 | 33 | 244.2 | 2.69 | 130 | 18 |
Arguments For:
- Hurst ranks in the top five in Padres history in shutouts and complete games.
- He ranks eighth in Padres history in ERA+ and wins.
- Hurst made 30+ starts and earned 10+ victories in all four of his full seasons in San Diego.
Arguments Against:
- Hurst never was the best pitcher in his rotation — he always played second fiddle to Ed Whitson or Andy Benes.
- After a strong initial campaign with the Padres, Hurst steadily declined each of the next three seasons.
- I dunno, I can’t find another one.
| Year(s) | GS | IP | ERA | ERA+ | WS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career with Padres | 2002-2006 | 138 | 864 | 3.51 | 114 | 55 |
| Best year with Padres | 2004 | 27 | 166.2 | 2.27 | 177 | 16 |
Arguments For:
- Peavy has won an NL ERA title and an NL strikeout title.
- He’s top five in Padres history in K/9 and ERA+.
- Peavy is one of the best pitchers ever produced by the Padres and could move past Andy Benes before too long.
Arguments Against:
- Peavy has been fragile, missing starts in two of his first four full seasons.
- His post-season record is brutal.
- Peavy hasn’t been around very long, and we don’t know what kind of path Peavy’s career will take; look at his comparables through age 25, paying particular attention to the career of Benes.
Those are the facts. You know the drill.
When you first see the match-up you gotta think Peavy wins…but then you look at the numbers and it is a lot more even than you would think. I remember watching Hurst, albeit when I was a teenager and not really understanding what I was seeing. He really was a decent pithcher.
I still have to give to Peavy b/c his overall numbers are a bit better, his peak numbers higher, and did this in a better hitting era.
I also say Peavy.
Peavy….Hurst was never the best Padre pitcher in the rotation, and Jake has been the last several years (though arguments for CY are valid for last year).
Love that Wells is on the safari diet plan. Perfect.
Peavy. The ERA and K titles carry a lot of weight in my eyes. Another way to think of it, you can argue convincingly that Peavy is an ace starter, and I don’t think you can do that for Hurst.
Peavy. For all the reasons already said, and an important reflection on a your point against Peavy.
Yes, B-R-U-T-A-L postseason record….but he is one of the reasons that there have been postseasons to reflect on.
Please don’t become Benes Jake! Talk to Randy about how to become a Padre institution.
Hurst … with Peavy likely passing him this year .. the 177 ERA+ was only in 166 IP … a fact reflected in the WS (18 vs 16) … Hurst had more IP/GS with a lower ERA (same ERA+) …
The Linebrink for Rowand trade offer has apparently been “tabled.”
Re: 7
I just saw that rumor. Hopefully the conversations were about Burrell and not Rowand. Linebrink had a VORP of 18.7 last year in arguably an off year. Roward had one of 8.8, granted he missed 250 PA’s due to his injury. I don’t like it, but I have not liked a lot of their trades that worked out just fine.
LM, I completely see your argument. Hurst is much better than people remember going by the numbers, but I’ll still cast my vote for Jake based on his higher K rates and he also has a 134 ERA+, higher than Hurst’s best, in 203 IP versus 244 for Hurst.
Here’s some more stuff on Blyleven:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/story/2007/1/31/8555/76382
This article dares to compare him to the God Koufax.