Helton's TEAM wasn't winning, but playing in that park helped make him a borderline Hall of Famer statistically (and helped him get those bigger contracts for said production).
Does Safeco help Felix? A little bit, but playing on this team has cost him something like 20+ wins over his career already. He's a near statistical twin to Verlander, but certainly not in wins:
Justin: 1553 IP (232 starts), 124-65 record.
Felix: 1620 IP (238 starts), 98-76 record.
Games with 0-2 Runs scored for him:
Justin - 6-42 (!!) in 57 games with a 4.01 ERA
Felix - 16-48 in EIGHTY FOUR games with a 2.80 ERA
27 more games under those conditions? That's almost an entire season in which Felix got 2 runs or less support and Verlander did not. Justin is 49-17 with 3-5 runs of support while Felix is 41-23. If you get him 3-4 runs, Felix will win. going from a 1-in-5 chance to get a win to better than 2-to-1 for all his other starts makes a bit of a difference.
This team is hurting Felix's Hall of Fame credentials, since wins still matter to voters. A guy looking for personal glory would leave. Felix wants team glory so badly it's choking him up just trying to talk about it.
I hope we back him better in the next 10 years of his career than we did his first 10. Loyalty deserves rewards on the field, not just off of it.
Of course, maybe Felix was paying attention to the Griffey thing. "No one will love you like your first team" was the advice Griffey ignored when he left, and he spent a good deal of time being hated in Cincy. Like you said Doc, "home" is a powerful thing.
But I still think our home needs a little decorating touch, so let's hang some banners in this thing, yeah?
~G
Add new comment
1