AL Cy Young

So does this mean CC didn't pitch to the scoreboard tonight?

 

This means CVC was bad tonight. Felix was sensational today. Price was OK.

Felix is going to win regardless of his record because he deserves it.

 

If I had a vote, there's no question C.C. would have to be third because of the competition he faced.

If you add the records of all the teams C.C. faced, they are a combined 130 games below .500. This is due to a relatively steady diet of Baltimore (30 games under .500) six times, Seattle (36 games under .500) three times, Cleveland (-29) twice and Kansas City (-25) twice. I don't see that he faced Minnesota at all and pitched against another division leader (Texas) only one time. In all, he has MORE than TWICE the number of starts (13) against bad teams, those I define as at least 20 games under .500, as Price (five) or Hernandez (six).

I know, I know, I know, you pitch when it's your turn and you can't do anything about who the other team is.

By comparison, the records of those teams facing Price and Hernandez are very close: 142 games over .500 for Hernandez and 150 over .500 for Price.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/King-Felix-Hernandez-deserves-Cy-Young-award-092310

 

From John Heymann...

love cc, but he has 10 wins vs. balt, sea and kc. felix is 3-0 with 0.35 era vs. nyy

 

I'm still in the Felix camp but I'm starting to like Price more and more. I'm sure Rick Stain can crunch some numbers on this but it seems to me Price pitches against tougher offenses in the AL East and he's been a huge part of Tampa Bay's ascent this season. That's got to count for something, right?

 

I don't buy the strength of opposition thing as a major factor. Thus is the freakin major leagues, not college basketball.

If it was close in the other numbers, sure use that as a tiebreaker, but Felix's other numbers are pretty far ahead.

 

I think the AL East is the toughest and most talented division in baseball, although I will say that the NL East has some pretty impressive pitching. Rick, can you break out the OPS+ numbers by teams/division or by actual opponents each guy faced? I'd like to know who faced the best offenses.

 

The good folks at Baseball Prospectus keep track of this one:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=78758

The average hitter faced for Price is a .257/327/414 hitter.

The average hitter faced for Felix is a .259/328/399 hitter

 

Thanks. Barely significant. And the opponent OPS and VORP numbers scream Felix (and Roy), too.

 

If Felix gets above or stays at .500 it should be his.

If he is under.500, man, I just can't see that.

 

So if he loses 2 more 1-0 games it's somehow his fault?