Is the American League's Trash the National League's Treasure?

(Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty images)

With Brad Penny’s outstanding performance Wednesday night for the San Francisco Giants, questions have yet again risen this season about the competition level in the National League.

Penny, through 24 starts with the Boston Red Sox compiled a 7-8 record with a 5.61 ERA. Batters had hit .299 on the former Dodgers ace, and at the end of his tenure he was struggling to pitch out of the sixth inning.

This of course shocked most of the sports-viewing world last night when Penny went eight strong innings against the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. The righty allowed five hits, no runs, and only one walk.

Could it be that an American League team’s trash really is a National League team’s treasure?

This of course is the second instance this season alone where a Red Sox starting pitcher was cut from Bean Town only to resurface in the National League as a game-changing contributor.

On Aug. 6, future hall-of-famer John Smoltz got tattooed by the New York Yankees for eight earned in only 3.1 innings. The next day he was cut. Seventeen days after being released, Smoltz resurfaced in San Diego, this time with a Cardinals jersey on his back. He looked like a new man, or at least the same man that once dominated the National League for 20 years before his 2009 experiment with the Red Sox.

Smoltz struck out nine batters in five shutout innings for his new club, setting a St. Louis franchise record by recording seven consecutive strikeouts. In his next start against the Washington Nationals he appeared equally as nasty as the start before. The righty struck out six and allowed only four hits and one earned run through six innings.

This apparent phenomenon of mediocrity in the American League turned stardom in the National League isn’t limited to the mound either.

On Jul. 24, the Cardinals made another move, attaining outfielder Matt Holliday from the Oakland Athletics. From 2006-2008 Holliday was perennially one of the top hitters in the National League. Playing for the Rockies in that time period, Holliday averaged a .329 batting average with 32 homers a year. The left-fielder was shipped to Oakland this offseason and through 93 games in the Bay Area he hit a disappointing .286/.378/.454 with 11 homers and 54 RBI in 93 games. Since being traded back to the National League he has hit .375/.437/.691 with nine homers and 36 RBI in only 36 games.

Could it be that the American League is just that much more difficult than the National League? And if in fact it were true the implications of this fact would be astounding.

Would Albert Pujols still be the best player in baseball if he were in the American League? What about Hanley Ramirez? Apart from steroids, would Barry Bonds home run records be even more tainted? Are the Nationals that much worse than we thought because they play in the inferior league?

I don’t believe any of the above are true, nor could I imagine that the American League is anywhere near as superior as some give it credit. Consider these before you jump to that conclusion yourself.

Experience

The three aforementioned former All-Stars all played their entire careers in the National League before moving to the American League in 2009. The amount of time players, especially players at the top of the league, put into scouting and video preparation can’t be understated.

There is no question that after 20 years John Smoltz has a pretty good grasp on how to approach hitters in his prospective league. He has spent countless hours studying all the best, and even the worst hitters in the National League. Not only has he studied the hitters, Smoltz has gone toe to toe with the hitters, and learned something about how to face them each and every time they have taken the plate.

Clearly neither him, Penny, nor Holliday could pick up this experience immediately in a whole new league. Hitters usually take one full year to adapt to a new league, while pitchers can often take a year and a half to two.

Circumstance

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