It's picking a start date of where he started to suck. It's the definition of cherry picking. I can do the same and say he pitched like a #3 towards the end of the season. Doesn't mean that's what he is.
Well we did have a few other Elder type starters. But they got hurt too in AJSS And Holmes.
They really needed two more quality starters entering the year. One to fill in for Strider until he came back and one for Lopez.
It's a team that does everything well and that happens to be really good in 2025 because they were no truly great teams this year.
They were an above average offense, good defense, good top end starters, good pen.
The Jason Heyward of teams.
The counter to that is what is a realistic expectation for the who first man up to replace Sale or Strider if they are hurt? If it's someone signifigantly better than Elder then that person isn't going to here via FA so they can sit in AAA. And trading for that person is a huge waste of assets...
The real Elder is what you see from his career stats. That's who is he. 5th starters like Elder are going to have stretches where they can't locate anything well and will get blasted. Then he's going to have a string of starts where that sinker is staying low in the zone and he's going to pitch...
Youre cherry picking of stats is quite pathetic. He's a mid 4 FIP and ERA guy. That's fine as your #5 starter regardless of whatever personal grievance you have agaisnt Elder.
Dodger's May is another guy who had 18 starts with a mid 4 FIP.
Padres Vazquez had 26 starts with a 4.8 FIP
The Cubs...
Berrios from the Jay's this year was at Elders level. The Ms had a collection of guys go through the 5th spot with a 5 FIP. The issue isn't Elder in the 5th spot. It's he wasn't the 5th starter at the end of the year due to injuries.