150K's the new 200K's ???

is that he is an active pitcher with over 150 Wins. That is all that list is

Maddux was consistently great, but his two historically great seasons were before Pedro’s heyday. During Pedro’s peak run he was slightly better than Maddux at his best.

It’s splitting hairs, though. Both pitchers rank right there among the best ever and will be deserving HOFers when their respective times come.

I was responding to mestifo’s “because in my opinion the only people on that list above that belong in the HOF are Glavine, Randy Johnson and John Smoltz”.

But what you said, essentially, was that the only guys who belonged in the Hall were those who had 300 wins or the Smoltz/Eckersley exception. That’s not misreading what you wrote, it’s extrapolating on your comments. And if you think that Koufax, Palmer, and Gibson belong in the Hall, it’s absolutely ridiculous to say that Pedro doesn’t as well.

There’s a great reason to discount the 300 wins number: if 300 wins was the automatic entry barrier to the Hall for guys who made 40+ starts a year and pitched 300+ innings, it probably doesn’t fit very well in a game where guys make 30 starts, pitch 180 innings, and have understandably lower win totals. No pitcher has won 30 games since Denny McLain in 1968; this says a lot about the decline of win totals. It’s a lot harder to get accumulation stats like that if guys don’t have the opportunity to get as many wins as their predecessors did. Similarly, 500 homers should no longer provide for automatic entry to the Hall. In both cases it’s a matter of comparing apples to oranges.

I guess my argument would be more that players are not pitching 225-275 innings per year anymore. I am guessing more front end starters will be in the 180-215 inning range per year and being taken out in the 6th or 7th innings, thus having a greater risk of “losing” their win. (maybe not the best way to articulate what I am trying to say but hopefully you get the point).
This could certainly prolong players careers as you are saying into their young 40’s.
As I mentioned, I am not saying 300 wins is impossible, but highly unlikely.
Secondly, the premise of the post was asking the question “What will be the benchmark for wins for ‘automatic’ entrance into the HOF?” One could guarantee that 300 wins puts you in the Hall. Is that number going to be lowered to, say, 260 or 280? Thus saying that if a pitcher reaches a specific number, you could nearly guarantee their admission to the HOF.

The odds aren’t the same at all, guys are getting a few less starts than they were when Maddux started, and they’re getting a lot less innings. Ultimately, this means less opportunities for wins, no matter how you spin it. The odds were better for any pitcher coming up in the ’80s to reach 300 than they are for pitchers today, generally speaking.

The one argument in favor of the odds being the same are in regards to better conditioning and medicine, as successful comebacks from previously catastrophic injuries are a bit more common. Even so, there are just a lot less opportunities to collect wins with starters giving up the ball in the seventh.