Sergio Romo is Historically Good

I was looking at Sergio Romo's Baseball-Reference page earlier today, and was fascinated by his K/BB ratio -- 4.65; that's his career K/BB. And his career ERA+, 168, isn't too shabby, either.

In fact, these numbers are historically good. Here's the list of pitchers from 1901 to 2011 (min. 100 IP) to post a career K/BB ratio of 4.5+ and an ERA+ of 150 or greater --

Rk        Player Year ERA+ SO/BB    IP From   To   Age  
                                                                                                                                  
1    Sergio Romo 2011  168  4.65 139.1 2008 2011 25-28  

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/5/2011.

That's it. Sergio Romo is the only pitcher in history to do that...so far, at least. Granted, the cutoffs are highly arbitrary, and the innings limit is quite low.

Still, I think this fosters greater appreciation for Romo -- who, by the way, has looked incredible in his 13 appearances thus far. He's currently sporting a K/BB of 14.00 to go along with an ERA+ of 422.

Romo won't be a free agent until 2015, and it would make a lot of sense for him to step into the closer role when Brian Wilson leaves.

Look at what we get when the cutoffs are expanded. Here are relievers (min. 100 IP) with a career K/BB of 3.5+ and an ERA+ above 135:

Rk	Player	Year	ERA+	SO/BB	IP	From	To	Age
1	Trevor Hoffman	2010	141	3.69	1089.1	1993	2010	25-42
2	Mariano Rivera	2011	205	3.95	1164.2	1995	2011	25-41
3	Billy Wagner	2010	187	3.99	903.0	1995	2010	23-38
4	Jonathan Papelbon	2011	206	4.09	377.1	2005	2011	24-30
5	Keith Foulke	2008	140	3.70	786.2	1997	2008	24-35
6	Huston Street	2011	150	3.81	395.0	2005	2011	21-27
7	Joakim Soria	2011	207	3.79	267.2	2007	2011	23-27
8	Takashi Saito	2011	196	3.93	301.1	2006	2011	36-41
9	Andrew Bailey	2010	255	3.59	132.1	2009	2010	25-26
10	Neftali Feliz	2011	191	3.74	108.2	2009	2011	21-23
11	Rafael Betancourt	2011	139	4.38	510.0	2003	2011	28-36
12	Sergio Romo	2011	168	4.65	139.1	2008	2011	25-28

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/5/2011.

He's in company with some of the elite closers of this era.

Romo definitely doesn't get the respect he deserves, but he'd actually be a suitable replacement for Brian Wilson. I have enough trust in Romo (and his historically great numbers) that I'd be in favor of not offering Wilson a lucrative deal when his contract expires after 2012.

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