The Marlins and the Future of Starting Rotations

[Erick]

WHIP for relievers is definitely not overrated. One of the better stats to determine how good relievers truly are as far as basic stats go.

Wittgren had a better WHIP than Barraclough, Ramos, and Ziegler last year. If WHIP were so important, Tazawa would've gotten more money than Ziegler, but he didn't because Ziegler is the better reliever. It's a rather meaningless stat without context. Sometimes, the low WHIP guys can't keep the ball in the yard/they're more hittable.

WHIP treats all baserunners equally when that really shouldn't be the case (especially for high-leverage relievers who enter games without much margin for error).

Wittgren could probably pitch in most big league bullpens, but he's just another guy.