It’s not completely ridiculous, although the reasoning behind it is somewhat difficult to follow. The purpose is to identify the pitchers who are best at throwing and missing bats. The idea is that there are two better ways to measure a pitcher by strikeouts than K/9:

1)K/BF (batters faced) and K/100P. K/BF filters out, by identifying efficiency , pitchers who allow a lot of walks, hits, and HPB.

2) K/100P identifies those who don’t allow BB, H, or HBP, as well as those who throw the least pitches per strikeout (the idea being that, during a game, a pitcher who can strikeout batters on 3 pitches is going to record outs more quickly and pitch deeper into games). Read this column from 2006:

Just as striking out the side in order is preferred over getting all three outs via the K regardless of the number of batters faced, a pitcher who strikes out hitters on three pitches is more effective than those who take five or six to get the job done. By definition, he is missing bats a higher percentage of the time and is also more likely to pitch deeper into games and record a greater number of outs than his counterparts.

Once the reasoning behind the stat is understood, it’s relatively simple math (say, compared to the defensive +/- rankings). It’s not identifying the most successful pitchers by ERA or W/L, it’s showing the pitcher who is best at missing bats and getting outs quickly without needing his defense, with the understanding that this is the most efficient way to prevent baserunners and runs scored. Cook is not a strikeout pitcher, but does a good job of getting outs by way of his prowess for groundballs and his defense. His success will always vary based on the quality of defense behind him. Joe Saunders, Jamie Moyer and John Lannan are others that had good years and are far down on the list.

that instead of practicing “fundamentals”, they’ve practicing non-fundamentals, like trick plays or something. “OK guys, now we’re going to work on how to take that outside slider between the 3rd/SS gap with a hard grounder. Once we get that down, we’ll work on trying to take belt-high inner half fastballs to the opposite field. While you guys are doing that, Tulo and Atkins will practice throwing left handed.”