Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
So we are a month into the season and the major-league saves leader is…
Mariano Rivera? Nope, Rivera may be a future Hall-of-Famer but his three saves put him in 26th place in the majors.
Eric Gagne? He's yet to even pitch.
John Smoltz? He's a born-again starter.
Your major-league save leader is Red Sox castoff Brandon Lyon with 11. He currently projects to 66, nine more than Bobby Thigpen's single-season record.
Lyon did get a short trial, 9 saves, as closer in Boston's desperate pre-Keith Foulke days. I don't know what to make of his stat line yet far in 2005. It's schizophrenic (and so is it). There's the good: he's 11 of 12 in save opportunities and has a 1.93 ERA. However, opponents are batting a whopping .310 against him, his WHIP is 1.50, he's allowed 7 runs in 14 innings (3 earned), and has recorded just 5.14 strikeouts per nine innings.
The oddest thing to me was that his Walks plus Hits per Innings Pitched (i.e., WHIP, 1.50) was so close to his ERA (1.93). It got me to wondering if anyone had ever had a higher WHIP than ERA. Here's what I found. Here are the only ones to ever do it (min. 25 IP):
| Name | Yr | ERA | WHIP | WHIP to ERA Ratio | IP |
| Buck O'Brien | 1911 | 0.38 | 1.07 | 2.83 | 47.7 |
| Foster Edwards | 1926 | 0.72 | 1.32 | 1.83 | 25.0 |
| Hank Aguirre | 1968 | 0.69 | 1.14 | 1.67 | 39.3 |
| Bobby Castillo | 1979 | 1.11 | 1.60 | 1.44 | 24.3 |
| Paul Kilgus | 1993 | 0.63 | 0.91 | 1.44 | 28.7 |
| Ray Searage | 1984 | 0.70 | 0.94 | 1.33 | 38.3 |
| Earl Hamilton | 1918 | 0.83 | 1.11 | 1.33 | 54.0 |
| Rob Murphy | 1986 | 0.72 | 0.93 | 1.31 | 50.3 |
| Laurie Reis | 1877 | 0.75 | 0.97 | 1.30 | 36.0 |
| Bob Veale | 1963 | 1.04 | 1.27 | 1.22 | 77.7 |
| Barry Latman | 1958 | 0.76 | 0.92 | 1.22 | 47.7 |
| Harry Otis | 1909 | 1.37 | 1.67 | 1.22 | 26.3 |
| George McQuillan | 1907 | 0.66 | 0.78 | 1.19 | 41.0 |
| Chris Hammond | 2002 | 0.95 | 1.11 | 1.17 | 76.0 |
| Walt Masterson | 1945 | 1.08 | 1.24 | 1.15 | 25.0 |
| Nelson Chittum | 1959 | 1.19 | 1.32 | 1.11 | 30.3 |
| Bob Spade | 1907 | 1.00 | 1.11 | 1.11 | 27.0 |
| Bill Harris | 1931 | 0.87 | 0.97 | 1.11 | 31.0 |
| Jack Taylor | 1892 | 1.38 | 1.46 | 1.06 | 26.0 |
| Gus Dorner | 1902 | 1.25 | 1.28 | 1.02 | 36.0 |
| Carmen Hill | 1915 | 1.15 | 1.17 | 1.02 | 47.0 |
| Nick Maddox | 1907 | 0.83 | 0.83 | 1.00 | 54.0 |
| Martin Glendon | 1903 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 1.00 | 27.7 |
| Rich Gossage | 1981 | 0.77 | 0.77 | 1.00 | 46.7 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 1990 | 0.61 | 0.61 | 1.00 | 73.3 |
| Bob Milacki | 1988 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 1.00 | 25.0 |
Lyon's WHIP-to-ERA ratio is actually .78. Here are all the pitchers with at least 50 IP and a WHIP-to-ERA ratio of at least .75:
| Name | Yr | ERA | WHIP | WHIP to ERA Ratio | IP |
| Earl Hamilton | 1918 | 0.83 | 1.11 | 1.33 | 54.0 |
| Rob Murphy | 1986 | 0.72 | 0.93 | 1.31 | 50.3 |
| Bob Veale | 1963 | 1.04 | 1.27 | 1.22 | 77.7 |
| Chris Hammond | 2002 | 0.95 | 1.11 | 1.17 | 76.0 |
| Nick Maddox | 1907 | 0.83 | 0.83 | 1.00 | 54.0 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 1990 | 0.61 | 0.61 | 1.00 | 73.3 |
| Tim Keefe | 1880 | 0.86 | 0.84 | 0.98 | 105.0 |
| Dale Murray | 1974 | 1.03 | 0.99 | 0.96 | 69.7 |
| Bill Henry | 1964 | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.96 | 52.0 |
| Darold Knowles | 1972 | 1.37 | 1.31 | 0.96 | 65.7 |
| Red Faber | 1918 | 1.23 | 1.15 | 0.94 | 80.7 |
| Junior Thompson | 1946 | 1.29 | 1.21 | 0.94 | 62.7 |
| Dutch Leonard | 1914 | 0.96 | 0.89 | 0.92 | 224.7 |
| Ferdie Schupp | 1916 | 0.90 | 0.83 | 0.92 | 140.3 |
| Jose Mesa | 1995 | 1.13 | 1.03 | 0.92 | 64.0 |
| Carl Lundgren | 1907 | 1.17 | 1.07 | 0.91 | 207.0 |
| Mordecai Brown | 1906 | 1.04 | 0.93 | 0.90 | 277.3 |
| Frank Williams | 1986 | 1.20 | 1.07 | 0.89 | 52.3 |
| John Weyhing | 1888 | 1.23 | 1.05 | 0.85 | 65.7 |
| Jack Pfiester | 1907 | 1.15 | 0.98 | 0.85 | 195.0 |
| Joey Eischen | 2002 | 1.34 | 1.14 | 0.85 | 53.7 |
| Frank Linzy | 1965 | 1.43 | 1.21 | 0.85 | 81.7 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1981 | 1.04 | 0.87 | 0.84 | 78.0 |
| George Kahler | 1910 | 1.60 | 1.32 | 0.82 | 95.3 |
| Red Munger | 1944 | 1.34 | 1.10 | 0.82 | 121.0 |
| Jeff Brantley | 1990 | 1.56 | 1.27 | 0.81 | 86.7 |
| George Witt | 1958 | 1.61 | 1.29 | 0.80 | 106.0 |
| Rod Scurry | 1982 | 1.74 | 1.38 | 0.79 | 103.7 |
| Jack Coombs | 1910 | 1.30 | 1.03 | 0.79 | 353.0 |
| Hippo Vaughn | 1913 | 1.45 | 1.14 | 0.79 | 56.0 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | 1967 | 1.31 | 1.03 | 0.79 | 89.0 |
| Steve Hamilton | 1965 | 1.39 | 1.08 | 0.78 | 58.3 |
| John Smoltz | 2003 | 1.12 | 0.87 | 0.78 | 64.3 |
| Ugueth Urbina | 1998 | 1.30 | 1.01 | 0.78 | 69.3 |
| Babe Adams | 1909 | 1.11 | 0.85 | 0.77 | 130.0 |
| Ted Abernathy | 1967 | 1.27 | 0.98 | 0.77 | 106.3 |
| Ken Tatum | 1969 | 1.36 | 1.04 | 0.77 | 86.3 |
| Randy Myers | 1997 | 1.51 | 1.16 | 0.77 | 59.7 |
| Frank Killen | 1891 | 1.68 | 1.28 | 0.77 | 96.7 |
| Al Brazle | 1943 | 1.53 | 1.17 | 0.76 | 88.0 |
| Bob Gibson | 1968 | 1.12 | 0.85 | 0.76 | 304.7 |
| Bob Miller | 1971 | 1.64 | 1.25 | 0.76 | 98.7 |
| John Franco | 1996 | 1.83 | 1.39 | 0.76 | 54.0 |
| Les Lancaster | 1989 | 1.36 | 1.03 | 0.76 | 72.7 |
| Walter Johnson | 1918 | 1.27 | 0.95 | 0.75 | 326.0 |
| Tim Burke | 1987 | 1.19 | 0.89 | 0.75 | 91.0 |
I included the lists in their entirety because I thought them cool. Also, the number of great seasons therein tell you how well a pitcher has to pitch for an entire season to be included. That said, I can't imagine that Lyon can keep up his dual-personality act all season. A close who allows one or two baserunners an appearance just cannot continue to be effective over the course of season. You'll not that John Franco's 1.39 WHIP in 1996 was the closest to Lyon's but that was just in 54 innings.
Actually his WHIP was 1.08 with a 0.00 ERA in 26 IP in 1908. But his ratio was infinite and dropped out of the query. I fixed it and found that he was the only one.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.