He's currently tied for 7th in the majors with 15 quality starts out of 24 starts. That's the 16th best percentage of quality starts with him sitting 1.5% behind Shane Bieber. Verlander and Cole are tops with 17 each, and Ryu leads at 85%.
A pitcher's record doesn't provide any context for how well a pitcher actually performs. It's pretty useless to throw a record out when arguing a pitcher's merit.
Personally I'd feel incredibly confident in any series where we have healthy Bieber and Bauer pitching games 1 and 2.
...All I'm saying is Bauer either blows up or pitches a gem. Do any of you want that going into the post season? Especially Game 1 or 2? I don't.
Again, I'm not a stats guy, but the "quality start," as I understand it, is a little dubious since it comes out to a 4.50 ERA. Isn't there some advanced version of it that's supposed to be more accurate?
Bauer's WHIP is 1.16, not far off from last year. But his FIP is 4.19 vs. last year's 2.44 on account of him giving up more HR and walks. (He's tied for #10 in HR and he's tied for first in walks allowed.) But, he's also top ten in K's. His WAR is 2.4, which has him tied for #35.
So while it's unfair to say he either blows up or pitches a gem, it's not hard to see why folks don't think he's
really been consistent either. There's kind of feast or famine aspect to his game this year. Most people here see that. It doesn't mean he's useless and we should ship him out.
I'm not really concerned with the moral argument about his tantrum today, I'm concerned with what it says about his ability to help this team in high-pressure situations...which today was absolutely not. I don't care if it was hot out or he was sick. He caught a few bad breaks and imploded when he was being taken out during a regular season game against the Royals. It's legit to ask: If this happens today, what does he do in the playoffs? He's got an albeit limited track record of numbskullery when it matters. He hasn't proven himself any different to me. Antics like today just reinforce that.
So would I feel incredibly confident about a playoff series with healthy Bieber in Game 1 and Bauer in Game 2?
I'd feel good about Game 1.