Is Mark Buehrle a Hall of Famer

Buehrle pitched six scoreless innings last night to notch his 14th straight 200 inning season. He's in some great company as one of 7 pitchers in baseball history to do this.

Cy Young 19 straight
Warren Spahn 17
Gaylord Perry 15
Don Sutton 15
Christy Mathewson 14
Phil Niekro 14
Greg Maddux 14

His WAR is at 58.5 and WAA 29.6.

He's one win shy away from 200 career wins.

I say no. Buehrle falls into a group that includes pitchers like Andy Pettitte or Tommy John. Above average pitchers who pitched well for a long time. The pitching equivalent of a Tony Perez, as it were. A few years ago, Buehrle had the opportunity to improve his game and, therefore his chances, but his inability to escape the aforementioned description, makes him one of those "compiler" types rather than a truly great pitcher. (I don't equate longevity with "greatness".)

It also does not help that the higher peak/prime guys with shorter careers (Johana Santana, Roy Oswalt, etc.) aren't likely to receive substantial support anytime soon. Ironically, that could create a gap for a Buehrle-type player to sneak in, particularly if he could wind up with 280 wins or so by the time everything is said and done, but we'll have to see if he can do it.

So far the 21st century pitchers are looking to be a repeat of the 1980's - a decade with some high peaks/short careers and the opposite, but few who were outstanding in both aspects.

 

We had a long thread on this a few months ago. The answer now is "no." But he's a lot closer than he was 12 months ago. If he can get to 240-250 wins, he's got a shot, I think.

He's such an interesting case, because his peripheral numbers aren't very good. He keeps runners from scoring because he's consistently been the best pitcher in baseball, or one of the best, at keeping runners from stealing on him, and at picking them off when they think about it.

 

Buerhle will be 36 on opening day 2015. Unless he's a clone of Jamie Moyer, he'll have a hard time getting to 230 wins, let alone 240, 250 or 280. And if he does hang around to get to 250 or so, no matter how effective he still is, he'll get slapped with the dreaded "compiler" label that's almost the kiss of death for a HOF candidacy.

 

Ok Gehrig, I'll bite. What "opportunity to improve his game" did Buehrle have a few years ago?

 

Mark Buerhle is not even retired. How could he be in already?

As for his credentials, is he even above CC Sabathia?

 

I think there's something to be said for getting 9,000 guys out, almost all in the American League. Just not necessarily a HoF argument.

 

I want to hear this one, too, though I think we can both figure it out.

 

Simply meant that his career trajectory has been relatively flat. Had he been better during his physical prime from 27-32, let's say, I'd look at him differently. He's a workhorse with a long career. That's not meant to water down how good he's been, but I'm merely making the point his career arc isn't as high in the middle, while the ends are higher than most. People don't choose their talent, obviously. Just saying "if he'd been a little better".

 

The era in which he played makes Buehrle's 3,000-plus innings more impressive.
Also played for mostly lousy teams.

 

No, he didn't.

He played on three division winners in Chicago, and a World Series champion.

The Sox's win totals during his years there, starting in 2000:

2000: 95
2001: 83
2002: 81
2003: 86
2004: 83
2005: 99
2006: 90
2007: 72
2008: 89
2009: 79
2010: 88
2011: 79