November 13, 2007

Sabathia Wins AL Cy Young Award

                          1st 2nd 3rd  Pts
C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland 19 8 — 119
Josh Beckett, Red Sox 8 14 4 86
John Lackey, Angels 1 5 16 36
Fausto Carmona, Cleveland — 1 4 7
Eric Bedard, Orioles — — 1 1
Roy Halladay, Blue Jays — — 1 1
Johan Santana, Twins — — 1 1
Justin Verlander, Tigers — — 1 1
MLB story.

Not that it mattered, but Beckett was left off two ballots and Sabathia was left off one. (I'll bet one of the non-Beckett ballots belongs to George King of the Post.)

In ERA and WHIP, Sabathia (3.21, 1.14) and Beckett (3.27, 1.14) were just about identical, and CC held that impressive (and slightly-lower) ERA while pitching an additional 40.1 innings.

That is very significant and likely made the difference. Plus, those extra innings may have contributed to his downfall in the ALCS (in which Beckett won the MVP).

23 comments:

Ron said...

Seems about right to me. I'm sure Beckett will be plenty happy with his World Series ring.

Rob said...

That was certainly no upset. And no surprise. And no worries. I would have chosen Sabathia as well, being an objective baseball writer.

Rob said...

And I don't think he's going to get all torn up about it. I'll betcha he probably paused a moment and then said, "Oh well." And moved on.

allan said...

And not a single vote for Wang -- I thought he was neck and neck with Josh, you idiot MFY-loving hacks.

allan said...

I know each ballot can have only 3 names, but I'm pretty shocked at how little attention Carmona got. When you look at more complex pitching stats, he looks very, very good.

Zenslinger said...

I'm pretty shocked at how little attention Carmona got.

Bedard, too.

Good for Josh and well done to CC. From the Sox point of view, they both did what we needed them to when we needed them to.

That goes for the special attack midges it took many years (many midge generations) to mutate and train.

allan said...

SoSHer glennhoffmania: "This morning on ESPN Radio in NY, during one of the local breaks, they were talking about how Wang was one of the favorites to win."

Yep.

Wang, whose ERA+ was slightly worse than Schilling's.

allan said...

Bedard not pitching past August 26 likely put him out of the running.

...

Halladay? Did Buffy get a vote?

Zenslinger said...

Bedard not pitching past August 26 likely put him out of the running.

I forgot all about that.

...they were talking about how Wang was one of the favorites to win.

This is just sad.

laura k said...

Seems like a good call to me, too. As Chief says, Josh is probably pretty happy right now, regardless.

It's nice to see fans who can be objective, too, instead of always voting for the guy in their uni.

allan said...

20 ESPN.com writers picked:

Sabathia (14)
Beckett (4)
Carmona (1)
Lackey (1)

Amy said...

Well, I am certainly glad Beckett is on our team. I would take him over Sabathia any day.

Unknown said...

They should change the way the Cy Young is chosen. Ballots should be cast before the post-season, and then immediately tallied. If the top two contenders are in the post season, there should be a runoff.

laura k said...

If the top two contenders are in the post season, there should be a runoff.

The post-season shouldn't figure in at all.

laura k said...

Well, I am certainly glad Beckett is on our team. I would take him over Sabathia any day.

2007, yes. 2006? No.

Unknown said...

The post-season shouldn't figure in at all.

I'm sure A-Rod would agree.

Amy said...

2007, yes. 2006? No.

Oh, yeah, remember 2006? Yeah, let's not....

Rob said...

"This morning on ESPN Radio in NY, during one of the local breaks, they were talking about how Wang was one of the favorites to win."

Yeah, and this morning I was watching Mike and Mike on ESPN2 (that whole televised-radio thing for their morning show, like Imus had at MSNBC) and they had the Genius Steve Phillips on the program, who said he wouldn't be surprised, and actually predicted, that the Red Sox would trade Lester, Buchholz, AND Ellsbury to Minnesota for Johan Santana.

The problem with the season awards and the post-season would be denying someone who had an amazing season a Cy Young because although they won 24 games their team lost 110, and a guy with decent numbers goes to the post-season and pitches very well.

Sometimes it works out like it did this year. I'm sure it doesn't happen too often, where the Cy Young winner faces the runner-up in the post-season and loses twice against him, but hey. A ring is better. Not to mention the bit of hardware for the MVP of the LCS.

Rob said...

Funny how it works out, though. Sabathia pitches 40.1 more innings than Beckett during the regular season, wins the Cy Young. But Beckett was able to pitch brilliantly in the postseason and end up, after 4 post-season starts, with 10.1 fewer innings than Sabathia's regular season, and wins the World Series.

9casey said...

I was suprised too see Pap didn't get a vote...

Devine said...

If any reliever would have gotten votes, it would have been Putz.

andy said...

ok stat freaks how many times in the history of the Cy Young award did the pitcher with most regular season wins not win the award?

laura k said...

The post-season shouldn't figure in at all.

I'm sure A-Rod would agree.


Then he's smart about the Cy Young voting.