Randy Johnson vs. Steve Carlton

[Cowtipper]

This one goes to Johnson.

[GiambiJuice]

Johnson, easily. I think Johnson vs. Grove would be more interesting.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Johnson, easily. I think Johnson vs. Grove would be more interesting.

Right - is the big LQ advantage enough for Johnson to get past that string of 8-10x that Grove was the best pitcher in his league? It is close.

[SamtheBravesFan]

Depends on what you mean by "pitcher". For whatever reason, Johnson remained an effecitive strikeout artist well into his forties while Carlton was bombing out when he reached that age.

Now, that could be because Carlton started earlier in his life, reaching the majors at age 20, while Johnson was 24 when he debuted with Montreal. However, Steve didn't have a particularly pleasant end to his career while Johnson had a good finish. For that reason, I'm going with Randy.

[filihok]

Randy Johnson.

By about the amount that the current 33 to 5 vote would suggest.

[willshad]

Carlton had 3 or 4 outstanding seasons, and Johnson had about 8 or 9, and, besides 1972, Johnson's great years were superior. So, it really is not a very fair comparison. i think that carlton vs Schilling would be pretty interesting, however.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I went with Randy Johnson. Carlton vs Blyleven would be good too.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Carlton had 3 or 4 outstanding seasons, and Johnson had about 8 or 9, and, besides 1972, Johnson's great years were superior. So, it really is not a very fair comparison. i think that carlton vs Schilling would be pretty interesting, however.

More like 6-7 outstanding seasons, but yeah, Johnson was better.

[willshad]

More like 6-7 outstanding seasons, but yeah, Johnson was better.

6 or 7 outstanding seasons for Johnson or for Carlton?

[Bothrops Atrox]

6 or 7 outstanding seasons for Johnson or for Carlton?

Carlton - depends on your definition of "outstanding" I guess.

[pheasant]

I have Randy winning in a blowout here, especially when factoring in league quality.

[willshad]

Carlton - depends on your definition of "outstanding" I guess.

Well certainly 1969, 1972, 1977 and 1980 would qualify. And 1981 was like a 'half' a great season. he only had one other season with better than a 120 ERA+, and that was 1978 with 126..a fine season, but not really 'outstanding'.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Well certainly 1969, 1972, 1977 and 1980 would qualify. And 1981 was like a 'half' a great season. he only had one other season with better than a 120 ERA+, and that was 1978 with 126..a fine season, but not really 'outstanding'.

He was on pace for a spectacular 1981 - which was 2/3 of a season, not half. About the same length of 1994. 82 and 83 were also great years. 116-119 ERA+ are significantly better while pitching 290 innings than a 119 ERA+ pitching 220 innings.

[willshad]

He was on pace for a spectacular 1981 - which was 2/3 of a season, not half. About the same length of 1994. 82 and 83 were also great years. 116-119 ERA+ are significantly better while pitching 290 innings than a 119 ERA+ pitching 220 innings.

I guess Im talking about Cy Young award level seasons (although he did win an undeserved CY award in 1982).

[Bothrops Atrox]

I guess Im talking about Cy Young award level seasons (although he did win an undeserved CY award in 1982).

If those are our criteria...

I would say anything over 4.5 WAA is a Cy level season. Carlton had 4 such seasons, 69,72,77,and 80. Carlton would have had to be injured in 1981 to not get to 4.5. So 5, really. Randy had 8 such seasons.