kburjr
Well-Known Member
Unless I've misunderstood something, I don't think anyone is saying that 10 starts isn't a reasonable sample size OR that 4 starts is.
It's that he's got 14 starts on the season, so lets look at all of them. If you have to ignore nearly 30% of a guy's season in order to favorably compare him to the elite pitchers thus far, you're cherry picking.
No one is suggesting that Sale is the 8.50 ERA pitcher that he was over his first four starts, but they shouldn't be ignored if we're comparing them in the context of ASG selection/starts, which is where this started.
Although I agree with what you say, Sale isn't even as bad as what his YTD stats show. He is his last 10, not the 14.