MLB Baseball Sports Betting: WHIP versus ERA

I share oodles of information and debate philosophies with many sharp players on a continuous basis. Such locking of horns is imperative to knowledge progression.  Said argumentations are to Proline handicappers advisers what scholarly journals are to academia.
 
One of the most heated deliberations among the sharpest of the sharks is how to weigh a pitcher’s ERA relative to his WHIP. 

I realize most MLB baseball fans know what an ERA is, but many are not as versed on WHIP.  It’s walks+hits/innings pitched.  As much as I savor involving myself in debate with other masters of the trade, inevitably I am the one screaming the remedy is both.

I tell them it’s the equivalent of asking a doctor whether one should diet or exercise.  Sure conquering one or the other is better than neither, but any reputable physician advises they are not mutually exclusive.

A true baseball handicapper knows that careful interpretation of both ERA and WHIP neutralizes the inherent flaws of both while reinforcing the stronghold of each numerator.

Here is a pro-WHIP argument I often hear and articulated on baseball sports betting forums. sports news group by one of the participants:

The ERA can be affected by good fortunate (luck) far more than WHIP. The walks and hits a pitcher gives up show his skills facing a batter and will rise as he continues to allow hits and walks as it should.

But the same poor pitching, which allowed the walks and hits onboard, isn’t necessarily reflected in his ERA stat.  He may escape lucky. His ERA can be affected either direction by the help he gets from his mates and/or the wind and/or the size of the ballpark.

This is particularly important in the first handful of starts of the early season, where averages can be easily skewed by a few innings.

A pitcher allowing a 400’ shot to center for example when a breeze is blowing in or the fielder makes a circus catch over the wall escapes with no runs scored, saving his ERA.
But in a different park the same 400’ shot to center is a homerun, or the wind blows it in the gap for a double to score a couple and his ERA goes up! Good luck to all if you bet on MLB baseball.