BCBulldog
In the 11 games he lost, the Pirates scored 16 runs. They scored no runs in four of those games. In the seven other losses, he gave up:
1 earned run in 4 innings
6 earned runs in 6 innings
5 earned runs in 6.1 innings
4 earned runs in 4.2 innings
1 earned run in 6 innings
3 earned runs in 8 innings
2 earned runs in 0 innings (injury game)
This translates to a 5.66 ERA in his losing decisions where he had at least one run of support. So it is obvious that he did not put his team in a position to win in all but two or three of those losses. However, when taking away the four games of no run support and the two or three games where he pitched well and was the hard luck loser, he was only responsible for four or five of the losses and should have had two or three more wins. This alone would have made him 3-5 or 4-4.
Then if you look at his nine no decisions, his ERA was 2.66. Breaking it down, in the nine no decisions, he only had on bad game where he gave up four runs in 1 1/3 inning and there was one game where he left early with an injury. Six of the no decisions were quality starts. The other no decision was a five inning, two earned run outing, which is not a QS, but certainly an opportunity to win.
When you put all of this together, he could have been as good as 11-4 or at least 9-5 if the Pirates could hit their way out of a paper bag and their bullpen didn't suck. $2mm seems like a bargain!!