What's the Deal with Royals Starting Pitcher Gil Meche? - Why His Pitching Stats Make No Sense

Gil Meche has done it again in 2007. After pitching six years for the Seattle Mariners with stats that made no sense, Meche signed a huge 5 year $55 million dollar free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals and once again posted stats that made no sense. But this time his stats are completely reversed from what he did in Seattle.

From 1999-2006 Meche compiled a 55-44 (.556) record for the Mariners (he missed the 2001-2002 seasons after major arm surgery). Over the same time frame the Mariners overall record was 473-499 (.487). So Meche pitched .069 above his team. That is an excellent number that very few pitchers in major league baseball can match including many Hall of Fame pitchers. The average Hall of Fame pitcher is about .055. So Meche must have had pretty good pitching stats for the Mariners but he didn't.

Meche pitched a grand total of 815 innings for the Mariners and his ERA was 4.65. Not very good and 105% of what the American League ERA was over the time frame. In addition Meche's K rate was 6.4, which is fine, but his BB rate was 4.0. That's a very high walk rate and his K to BB ratio was just 1.6. A very low number and certainly not a number that a good pitcher would have. So how did Meche have a much higher winning percentage than his team? I don't know but have a few ideas as to why.

After signing the huge money contract Meche went just 9-13 (.409) with the Royals in 2007. The Royals overall record in 2007 was 69-93 (.426). So Meche pitched .017 worse than his already bad Royals team. So Meche must have posted bad stats in 2007 but he didn't. This time Meche pitched to very good stats but still had a lousy won-lost record.

Meche pitched 216 innings for the Royals and posted a 3.67 ERA. An excellent number and just 77% of the league ERA. In addition he K'd 6.5 batters per 9 innings and walked just 2.6 per 9. A fine K to BB ratio of 2.5. So why did Meche have a worse record than his team after posting such fine pitching stats? Again I don't know but have a few ideas.