American League Rookie of the Year

Verlander will win. Papelbon should be second.

 

Brandon Webb placed 4th in 2003 and he has a good shot to win the NL Cy Young this year.

Just saying

 

So one of the greatest reliever seasons of all-time, in a market that chews up and spits out closers (hello Keith Foulke), means nothing to you?

 

We'll see in five years.

 

Bogus stat.

I want innings with my 2.00-give-or-take ERA.

 

I don't disagree that saves are, by and large, a bogus stat.

But a brilliant closer IS valuable, particularly if he can go more than three outs.

And if your standard for awards and such is a 2-and-change ERA, good luck finding those guys these days. And no, I do not consider Liriano, as good as he was this year, one of those guys because he didn't pitch enough innings.

 

I think that, unless there is an unprecedented dearth of everyday/starting-pitching candidates, closers should be out of the discussion.

It's a little worse than a DH winning MVP.

To me.

I could be wrong.

 

I've made this argument before:

With the way pitching staffs are handled nowadays, because starters are *never* expected to go 9 innings anymore, closers are now just as valuable as starters.

Maybe it shouldn't be that way -- but it is. Blame La Russa if you want, for his use of Eckersley or Honeycutt in the late 1980s; blame Casey Stengel for using Joe Page and Ryne Duren the way he did in the early 1950s. Hell, blame Firpo Marberry.

But relievers, as a group, are not "failed starters" (yes, you can find plenty of examples of this. But you can find examples of anything.)

That mentality is based in 1968. It is not applicable today.

Consider: Who can tell me the NL and AL leaders in complete games this season ... without looking it up? Aaron Harang. C.C. Sabathia. Both had 6 CGs. Only four NL pitchers had more than 3. Only two AL pitchers had more than 3.

A given starter is NOT more valuable than a given closer, just based on his role on the staff. That time is over.

 

What about Luis Firpo?

 

Agreed. Ask the Yankees just how valuable a lights-out closer can be.

 

Ask Jack Dempsey.

 

Another example of the lack of length provided these days by starting pitchers: This was the first non-strike year, I believe, in which no one won 20 games.