AL Cy Young

Wins are frequently good shorthand for how a pitcher is performing. But there is no shorthand required when it comes to a Cy Young vote. There is a lot of time to ponder and examine the other, more meaningful indicators of performance.

 

I never said wins should determine the Cy Young winner. I said the voters generally choose the pitcher with the best W/L record. If someone isn't superior in that, then they use other things to choose.

Bob Welch was 27-3. He won the award even if everyone knew he wasn't the best pitcher. That 1973 guy had 24 wins, but Tom Seaver beat him out with a 19-10 record because he was superior in other categories. Also because along with 24 wins the dude had 12 losses, and 24-12 isn't all that awesome. 24-6, that's a different story.

If Ubaldo goes 23-5, someone is going to have to be really strong in other categories to beat him out.

 

That's the wrong way to pick a Cy Young Award winner.

In fact, it's indefensible under any real scrutiny.

 

Wins shouldn't be the main factor but they are a factor. To dismiss them completely is just as ignorant as those who use it as the biggest factor in determining the award. Why is it a factor? because the pitcher can have a bigger impact in a team's win than any other player in the field -- run support be damned. If record wasn't a factor then I feel very confident in saying that Roy Halladay should have more than just the one Cy Young award to his name, and in his case we are dealing with recent history and thinking, not the mentality of 20-30 years ago and more. If there was ever an elite pitcher who got screwed over by lack of run support it was Roy Halladay, yet he still managed to pump out 17-20 wins a year and kept the rest of his stats in excellent shape. I'm sorry I could not vote for a pitcher with a losing record.

 

Why not?

 

Last year, Lincecum (15-7) and Greinke (16-8) posted pretty much the worst records for a starting pitcher who won the Cy. To suggest a losing pitcher will win it is ludicrous.

 

It would be like voting for a pitcher with a 4.50 ERA even if he was 22-6. Again not the only stat or even the most important stat to judge a pitcher by, but for me it's a total package. To have a stat like that so far out of whack is too big of an issue, especially when there are other pitchers who are just as much in the running. Do I have a name for you who I think should win the Cy Young this year? no I have not had the time to sit and study the numbers. I was more just commenting on the criterea voters should use.

 

If he was the best pitcher in the American League that year, why should win-loss record matter? Why is it his fault his team can't hit?

 

Winners win and losers lose.

 

How does a pitcher have an impact on whether the team wins?

 

Spoken like somebody who does not comprehend the concept of a team sport.

 

You don't think winners win?