Pretty sure he isnt . considering Price only has about 10 more wins in the same time frame as Porcello . Which makes it an assinine statement
Fact: A starter normally only wins 80% of his Quality Start total given league average run support. The biggest variable is the bullpen that follows a starter or having knuckleheaded managers that pull certain starters at the wrong time or leave them in too long. But there many variables on whether a starter and/or team gets a win, an that is
Run Support.
An average AL starter roughly has 50-51% of his starts as Quality. Home parks, like OAK or SDG, can vastly improve the rate of QS. Others, like Coors, can harm it.
Last 3 Years Away (assumes park neutral)
Scherzer 53 GS 38 QS Team is 34-19 .642 WPCT in those starts
Price 48 GS 34 QS Team is 30-18 .625 WPCT in those starts
Porcello 46 GS 25 QS Team is 24-22 .522 WPCT in those starts
Verlander 53 GS 33 QS Team is 26-27 .491 WPCT in those starts
Sanchez 39 GS 24 QS Team is 19-20 .487 WPCT in thos starts
Clear as mud, right? Let's look at the run support for these 5.
Games where team scored 5 or more runs last 3 years away
Sanchez 39 GS 14 Games
35.9% 13-1 .929 WPCT
Scherzer 53 GS 26 Games 49.1% 23-3 .884 WPCT
Porcello 46 GS 23 50.0% games 20-3 .870 WPCT
Price 48 GS 24 Games 50.0% 20-4 .833 WPCT
Verlander 53 GS 21 Games
39.6% 17-4 .810 WPCT
Very similar records. Amazing. There is no difference in wins between Price (6.7 Wins) and Porcello (7.0 Wins) really. In fact, Porcello's team will win more games if he is given 5 runs or more.
So what is the team record when they pitch without 5 runs?
Price 10-14 .417 WPCT
Scherzer 11-16 .407 WPCT
Verlander 9-23 .281 WPCT
Sanchez 6-19 .240 WPCT
Porcello 4-19 .174 WPCT
So, if I stop right here, without further delineating data, the difference between Price and Porcello on the 3 year average is 3.3 Wins to 1.4 Wins, or 2 Win difference. I will further contend that Rick is entering his prime and Price is at the tail end of his.
But let's go further.....
When the team doesn't score 5 runs
**LMI = left after the start pitching an inning
Verlander 32 GS 7 LMI 21.9% 9 IR 5 IS 55.6% Scored
Scherzer 27 GS 7 LMI 25.9% 9 IR 0 IS
00.0% Scored
Price 23 GS 9 LMI 39.1% 9 IR 6 IS 66.7% Scored
Porcello 23 GS 11 LMI 47.8% 14 IR 6 IS 42.9% Scored
Sanchez 25 GS 12 LMI 48.0% 15 IR 4 IS 21.1% Scored
AL Average IS %
2014 = 28.7%
2013 = 29.9%
2012 = 29.4%
Scherzer has been extremely lucky the past 3 years as to who followed him after he left in the middle of an inning. Even Sanchez did very well against the AL Average.
Based on the past 3 years worth of data, yes, Porcello is only 1-2 Wins different than Price, given all other things being equal. Obviously, if I had a choice between Porcello or Price to pitch a playoff game, I would choose Price. But many teams have won the World Series without having anyone better than Porcello as the starting pitching.
We had 3 former CY Young pitchers on our staff last post season and 5 hitters who had been All Stars in the past. How well did that work out?