EDIT: I mistakenly added a season to Halladay that occurred after he turned 30 (2008).

One of the advantages of my VORP survey, from seasons1954-present, published here during the baseball season, is that we can categorize the data in certain ways to learn about how certain types of pitchers performed over the years, or look for certain trends.

First off, I added the three VORP seasons above 60.0 that were posted in 2008: Cliff Lee (76.5), Johan Santana (73.6), and Tim Lincecum (72.3). Sabathia would probably have posted a VORP above 60.0 had he not been traded. As it stands, his VORP in Milwaukee (51.9) added to his Cleveland performance (25.5) looks to be more valuable than Lee's season (77.4), but that's simply a raw, unscientific calculation that does not truly take into consideration differences in league averages. Unfortunately, Sabathia's being traded will keep him off this particular list, but that doesn't change the fact that what he did after being traded was truly amazing.

This list is simple and straightforward: I looked through the VORP seasons from the past 10 seasons (1999-2008), and searched for pitching performances by pitchers that had not yet turned 30 (or just turned 30; but were not older than 30).

The following list are some of the best pitching seasons and most valuable performances by pitchers in the last decade; moreso because of their age.

The one thing that sticks out to me is that no one touches Johan Santana. Sure, you can debate all you like about who the best young pitchers are in the game over the course of the decade, but no one catches Santana in terms of the actual, consistent value of production on the mound. Not Peavy, not Zambrano, not Sabathia, not Oswalt, not Sheets, not Webb.

Of course, the second lesson is that Roy Halladay is severely underrated as an ace. Although his best performances are not as valuable as Santana, he is the only pitcher that really competes with Santana's 4 top-VORP seasons (VORP above 60.0) in the last decade. Sheets, Sabathia, Webb, Zambrano, Peavy cannot compete with that.

What I particularly enjoy about this survey is that it makes pitchers generally regarded as aces look like regular 'ol pitchers. Now, obviously every ace is not going to produce a top season every year. But the fact of the matter is that Santana produces top-value seasons more often than anyone else, and Halladay consistently pitches more valuable seasons than other more celebrated aces.

1. Pedro Martinez, 2000 (116.7)

2. Pedro Martinez, 1999 (102.3)

3. Johan Santana, 2004 (89.5)

4. Derek Lowe, 2002 (80.8)

5. Johan Santana, 2006 (79.6)

6. Jake Peavy, 2007 (77.0)

7. Cliff Lee, 2008 (76.5)

8. Barry Zito, 2002 (75.3)

9. Tim Hudson, 2003 (75.2)

10. Kevin Millwood, 1999 (74.7)

11. Johan Santana, 2008 (73.6)

12. Johan Santana, 2005 (73.0)

13. Roy Oswalt, 2006 (72.4)

14. Tim Hudson, 2002 (72.3)

15. Tim Lincecum, 2008 (72.3)

16. Joe Mays, 2001 (71.5)

17. Roy Halladay, 2003 (71.2)

18. [deleted, Roy Halladay, 2008]

19. Freddy Garcia, 2001 (70.4)

20. Brandon Webb, 2006 (68.9)

21. Roy Halladay, 2006 (68.0)

22. Mark Prior, 2003 (66.9)

23. Roy Halladay, 2002 (66.4)

24. Brandon Webb, 2007 (66.1)

25. Brad Radke, 1999 (65.7)

26. Dontrelle Willis, 2005 (65.2)

27. C.C. Sabathia, 2007 (65.2)

28. Roy Oswalt, 2005 (65.1)

29. Ben Sheets, 2004 (65.0)

30. Bronson Arroyo, 2006 (64.9)

31. Fausto Carmona, 2007 (64.0)

32. Carlos Zambrano, 2004 (62.8)

33. Brad Penny, 2007 (61.7)

34. Mark Buehrle, 2002 (61.5)

35. Mark Mulder, 2002 (61.4)

36. Jarred Washburn, 2002 (60.9)

37. John Lackey, 2007 (60.7)

38. Carl Pavano, 2004 (60.6)

39. Mike Hampton, 2000 (60.4)

Best Pitchers with Most Valuable Seasons – Under Age 30:

Pedro Martinez (2): 116.7, 102.3

Johan Santana (4): 89.5, 79.6, 73.6, 73.0

Tim Hudson (2): 75.2, 72.3

Roy Oswalt (2): 72.4, 65.1

Roy Halladay (4): 71.2, 70.6, 68.0, 66.4

Brandon Webb (2): 68.9, 66.1