Verducci - Pitcher's Value tied to Consistency

Verducci has a great article on SI.com where he analyzes the impact of a team's regular starters ability to make their starts on the team's Won/Lost record. Sounds simple but is something that is constantly lost when evaluating a pitchers ability. If you look at the league leaders from year to year you will notice there are few names consistently up there. We get enamored with WHIP, K/9, GB ratio etc. but often forget how valuable a durable starting pitcher is. One of the biggest risk factors with young pitchers is you have no serious body of work with which to judge their ability to stay healthy. Do you have the next Mark Prior or a horse like Johan? Only time will tell and their health could very well determine whether or not a championship just as much as their ability to miss bats.