More Milton nonsense

How many times are we going to have to go through this? Eric Milton is not an elite pitcher, or even a particularly good one for that matter. He's a mediocre starter who shines every so often.

Yet, according to Ken Mandel, in an article on the Phillies website:

Milton is attractive to the Phillies because of his ability to not be fazed by the cozy dimensions of Citizens Bank Park. Sure, he gave up an NL-high 43 home runs, but his ERA of 4.87 was respectable considering his home setting.

Look. I don't care whether or not Milton gets "fazed" by the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park. I care about how many runs he gives up. Good pitchers don't give up a lot of runs. Period. Giving up 43 home runs in a season is awful. An ERA of 4.87 is not respectable, I don't care where you're pitching.*

Incidentally, Eric Milton's ERA+, a statistic which takes into account park factors, is 92; 100 is the league average. In other words, Eric Milton was a below average pitcher in 2004.

Quite simply, there's no reason why the Phillies, or any team for that matter, should be expressing all that much interest in Milton. As a 3 or 4 starter, sure. But as one of the most coveted free agent pitchers of this offseason? You can have him, Steinbrenner.

*Incidentally, Citizens Bank Park isn't nearly as hitter-friendly as people seem to think. According to ESPN's Park Factor chart, CBP is only the 12th most hitter-friendly park. It's closer to the average than it is to the top. People seem to get that impression because there's so many home runs hit there. And when it comes to HRs, CBP is the fifth most hitter-friendly stadium. Which makes it an even worse place for HR-prone Eric Milton to pitch.