In a game that is like catnip to statisticians, the pitch count is overlooked but hugely important. Pitchers are the most valuable player on the team. The pitcher's arm is the most valuable body part on the pitcher. When a pitcher pitches a lot of pitches, you fuck up your arm. Think about it this way, before Roger Clemens got on the juice and his arm was nearly dead, he was effectively making $11,000 per throw.