ERA, an overrated stat?

While surfing the net I bumped into this interesting article.

It claims that pitcher contracts are no longer based on ERA.

I am not an expert on stats. It’s even worse, I think that stats are plain boring. Of course they are useful, but in general I am not really interested in them.

I always thought that ERA as a stat was overrated. Who will tell me if the 2.50 ERA of a pitcher with a top notch infield behind him is better than the 3.10 ERA of a pitcher backed by a mediocre infield? Of course it says something but in my humble opinion it depends heavily on the team that a pitcher is playing for. In my opinion ERA is a team work stat, at least partially.

It is better to judge a pitcher on his K/BB ratio (strikout / walk ratio). The higher the outcome of this sum, the better a pitcher controls his pitches.

I always thought that opposing batting average was also a good stat to measure a pitcher’s quality. But then again this is another team work stat. A good infield will be a bigger help to a pitcher than a mediocre one. Same for BABIP (Batting Average on Ball In Play), H (hits allowed), W-L percentage, etc.  Of course these stats give an indication but they are still depending if the pitcher’s team mates can make the outs.

The following stats are real pitcher only stats; stats not influenced by the quality of the team members:

– HRA (homeruns allowed)
– BB (base on balls)
– BB/9 (base on balls per nine innings)
– SO (strikouts)
– SO/9 (strikeouts per nine innings)
– FIP ( Fielding independent pitching) a stat  scaled, that focuses on events within the pitcher’s control – home runs,     walks, and strikeouts

Maybe the FIP stat is the best to measure a pitcher’s quality. The formula is

The lower the outcome, the better a pitcher is.

I realize that every stat has its value and that every stat has its supporters and opponents. But the added article makes clear that ERA is kind of overrated.

I am sure that I will get a lot of counter points after I posted this article. But that is fine, I certainly can learn from it.