Careless

No one is comparing him to Clemens or Ryan, just using them as examples to show that the number in the win column isn't exactly the best way to judge how well a guy pitched. But if you're so hellbent on individual wins, why aren't you looking at losses as well? He's only lost 54 games...for a .565 winning percentage. While that's not an eye-popping winning percentage, it's not that bad when you look at some of the Cubs teams he pitched for. Plus, I'm willing to overlook his 2000 season, since that was his first year back from Tommy John surgery. Let's break down how you actually get a win. AS A TEAM, you need to outscore your opponent. This means that: a) Your offense needs to score. b) Your pitcher(s), with some help from the defense, needs to give up less than your offense scores. Anyone with half a brain can see that the pitcher doesn't have much control over the first thing. So let's focus on the second: preventing runs. Wood ranks 17th among active pitchers in career ERA (min. 1000 IP) at 3.67. That tells me he's better than average at preventing runs. But let's look at some other numbers, too: He's second among active pitchers with 10.4 strikeouts/9 IP. He's 17th among active pitchers in WHIP at 1.257. While he may tend to walk batters, he doesn't give up a lot of hits. Fewer baserunners = fewer runs. That said, I would like to see his control improve. Bottom line, Wood has pitched better than his win total indicates. With better offense and a better bullpen, he would have easily won more games from 2001-2003. A little over a year ago I grabbed career winning percentages for a few pitchers wood: 59% schilling: 60% pavano: 49% clemens: 74% pedro: 71% ortiz: 63% schmidt: 58% peavy: 56% At this time, the cubs had a 49% winning percentage in wood's career. Most of these guys played for much better teams that won far more of their games.

Holy crap, is EVERYONE in the organization going to use this excuse to pick up crappy hitters? It's not just hendry's offseason goal, it's our new organizational philosophy! I wish this happened to another team so I could really laugh about it.

You're already halfway there :wink: the bears are gonna lose, and I'm sort of ok with that. This isn't a 12-4 team.

How about having a completion percentage under 8 and he was inches away from completing more passes to the bears than the 49ers

Pickett's line: 1-13 for 28 yards and 1 int. 4 lost fumbles on punts. under 100 total passing yards in the game. Wow, that game made all the other games this season less ugly.

stupid giants. On the other hand, the bears are 6-3

that had to be the least threatening drive to try to tie the game I've ever seen.

that was a great drive for the 49ers. should have been a facemask call on the kickoff, when the ref pulled him off he still had his hand on his mask.

Wade is in trouble

tillman, catch that! An orton-like pass.

wow, what a horrible run, holding the ball out like that. terrible luck to not recover the fumble. And I can't believe the vikings are winning

yay for 3 rbs.

bears dont seem to get many roughing the passers in their favor, not nearly as many as they give.

that's a gift of a penalty

bad bad bad bad bad bad pass.

that'll teach him not to kick a 50+ yarder into a 30+ mph wind.

YES!!!!!!!!

weirdest 2 minute drill ever

lovie smith is just TERRIBLE at challenging plays

you have got to be kidding

playing for a field goal... look at the legs on the 49ers pants go wtf ...

freaking benson. Could the bears please have a 1st round pick who doesn't suck/blow out his knee immediately?

bears over anyone by 13 is a mistake. They must be counting on a defensive massacre.

this really is a good (and quite long) article. Really, the best act of journalism espn has done ever. by a huge degree. The one interesting non-steroid detail was "Bill Jenkinson had determined that the peak age for long-distance home run hitting was 25 or 26, at which point sluggers begin a slow, inevitable descent toward the pack. The most notable exceptions, Jenkinson found, were the taller sluggers -- the Willie Stargells and Frank Howards -- who peaked at 28."

If I thought hendry wanted giles more, I'd consider this a pretty good guess.