A Wish On A Dandelion

Is the term that Jone Weisman, of Dodger Thoughts fame used to describe Guo's 2007 outlook prior to his 2008 award winning season. Weisman goes on to say...

It took a while for Joe Torre to trust him in important situations, but eventually [G]uo saw regular use in a season that left him with a 2.14 ERA (199 ERA+), 96 strikeouts against 84 baserunners in 80 innings, and no trips to the disabled list.

An ERA+ of 199 are you kidding me? That's a great feat for a 26 year old pitcher. One of the best in the last 20 years I'd guess. Well, using B-Ref, I performed a quick query of the last 20 years, with pitchers having thrown 80+ innings in their age 26 season. The results put Guo's 2008 ERA+ as #10 on the list. Click here to see the Baseball-Ref query and the complete list of best ERA+ seasons as a 26 year old. And if you filter by only LHP, Guo shoots up to #2 on the list only behind J.C. Romero's amazing 2002 season with an 236 ERA+. Guo is slated to be the setup man and likely backup closer should anything happen to Broxton. With that the case, I'd expect Guo to cherry pick atleast a half a dozen or so saves this year.