Thanks to zbrent's A+ analysis below, the logic is inescapable: Escobar and Damon were virtually identical pitchers, performance-wise. If one's in, they both should be in. I can't not vote for Escobar with 4 CY's, so I'm changing my call on Damon. DAMON SHOULD BE IN.
To me, zbrent's post is really about the wins stat. If Damon had picked up even another 40 wins over his career, I don't think we'd be calling him a bubble candidate - even though most middle-relief wins are incredibly undeserving of any particular recognition.
I took over a good team in Dirt a few seasons back. Good team, fairly high payroll. When FA had settled I was short on SP but had picked up 3-4 really good relievers. And I had one guy - Christopher Ledesma - who was one of those 40 STA 90 DUR guys you can roll out there for an inning or 2 nearly every day, and a really good pitcher to boot. He had been used as a closer his whole career (had 2 FOY's) and I think at the time had rolled up close to 400 saves.
Anyway, because I had a couple of dynamite short relievers, and a couple more that were good, and a very average group of starters, I went with a 4 or even sometimes 3-man rotation, set 'em to short pitch counts, and brought in Ledesma for a couple of innings around the 4th or 5th inning. This was a good offense, so I often had the lead when I brought Ledesma in. The first year, he had 26 wins and won the CY. The 2nd year, he had 35 wins and won the CY again. 61wins, all in 2-inning stints. With 2 FOY's and 2 CY's, he's probably a LOCK to go into the HOF over there. And he wasn't as good a pitcher as Damon is.
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