AL Cy Young

Did you guys know Cy Young had an 11.2 WAR in 1901?

 

I would vote for Felix.

What can I say, he deserves. And I think he will win it.

It's been a month since this thread has started. Felix has been awesome, and his team has still sucked.

I would never think a guy could continue to put up numbers like he has & not get better results.

 

Hernandez is proving to be a strong finisher. He did the same thing last year, though he got a little more help from his team. He was 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA over his final six starts in 2009.

 

Cy CC really making his case tonight.

Yanked after 5 1/3 with the bases loaded. 10 hits, 4 runs (all of them earned). We'll see if Joba can bail his ass out with the three still on.

edit: Joba gives up a ground-rule double. Add two more earned runs to CC's line.
edit 2: Another 2-run single. Add one final run to CC's line.

 

His fans wanted to give him credit for pitching in a pennant race. So, he loses credit for melting down in a pennant race, right?

The Yankees gave him a lead to work with and he completely fell apart in the sixth inning tonight. His ERA is up to 3.26, nearly a fulll run higher than Hernandez.

No way in hell Sabathia should get the Cy Young over Hernandez. None.

Edited to fix Sabathia's current ERA.

 

CC's final line: 5 1/3, 10 hits, 7 runs (all of them earned), 3BB, 6K. 111 pitches.

 

A similar line to the one where Yankeefan was giving him credit for when he happened to get the W. Remember, he was giving his bullpen a break, he fought through it, he willed his team to win

 

Soria's consecutive save streak is up to 34, two more than Rivera's total number of saves for the season. His ERA is down to 1.58, matching Rivera's for the season. Just sayin'.

 

I think Felix will win it and should win it, and I know win-loss has been blown up in terms of credibility.

But if Felix loses 1-0 five days from now (and he probably will) it's going to be pretty wild to see a Cy Young winner with a 12-13 record. I mean, Greinke's 16-8 record last year looks incredible in comparison.

 

Soria has a 1.58 ERA over 62.2 innings
Felix had a 1.58 ERA over 68.1 IP from 7-10 to 8-20

While Soria's innings are under more pressure, they are also pitched without ever having to throw a third pitch or face a batter for a second time.

Point is that you can't compare starters to closers, because they pitch so many fewer innings. Only way a closer wins Cy Young is if he has a historic type season 50+ saves, ERA under 1.00, zero blown saves, etc.

Like I said, I've got an NL Cy vote and I was looking at Heath Bell and Brian Wilson, but the best I'd do is give one of them a 5th place vote. Maybe.

 

Oh, I'm not promoting Soria for the Cy Young. These little updates are part of the previous discussion when posters tried to push Rivera for the award and I argued that he isn't even the best closer in the AL this season.

 

Gonna throw another stat out there (just because I know you guys love new stats): Win Percentage Added.

This is a pretty simple stat for pitchers. Someone adds up the odds of a major league team winning from any given combination of inning, runners on base, and outs. So, for example, as I type, the Diamondbacks lead the Rockies by one run as the home team in the bottom of the 5th with no outs and a runner on first, and historically teams win 70% of the time from that position.

If a starter begins the game at 50% and leaves with his team in an 80% position to win, he gets credited with +0.3 wins. If a closer comes in with his team 85% to win and closes it out, he gets +0.15 wins. If he blows it and they lose on a walk-off while he's pitching, he gets a -0.85 for the game.

This stat is especially instructive for showing how relief pitchers can pitch incredibly important innings and thus be as valuable as starters (or, conversely, you can have a mop-up guy pitching in games already decided and it won't really matter much how he pitches).

Anyway, here's a list of the MLB leaders:

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=n&type=3&season=2010&month=0

It rates Soria as the second-most valuable pitcher in baseball this season to date, behind only Roy Halladay.

Not saying he should win the Cy Young, but it lays out an interesting case, imo.