In Defense of Shawn Estes
August 27, 2003
While I will agree that Shawn Estes isn’t the greatest pitcher in the game, he does have 7 wins for the Cubs this year. Now you can throw all sorts of stats about Shawn, say he is the worst in this category or that category, but in the one stat that really matters, he has 7 wins. Now some of you may claim that this stat only shows how much run support a pitcher can get, and there is some truth in this. But, I ask you to look at a comparision between the 5th starter for the Cubs last year, Jason Bere. Bere pitched for a team that scored the 11th most runs in the NL, the Cubs this year are 13th in runs scored. Bere’s and Estes’s ERAs are very similar as well. However, Estes is 7-10 right now, Bere finished at 1-10. Estes may not have the greatest stats, but he is winning more games in the 5th starter spot, and personally, I think this is more important that WHIP.