AL Cy Young Award

[AntAltMike]

PLAYER         Team GP GS  IP    H  R  ER BB SO  W  L  WHIP ERA 
Felix Hernandez SEA 34 34 249.2 194 80 63 70 232 13 12 1.06 2.27 
Clay Buchholz   BOS 28 28 173.2 142 55 45 67 120 17  7 1.20 2.33 
David Price     TB  31 31 207.2 170 71 63 79 187 19  6 1.20 2.73 
Trevor Cahill   OAK 30 30 196.2 155 73 65 63 118 18  8 1.11 2.97 
CC Sabathia     NYY 34 34 237.2 209 92 84 74 197 21  7 1.19 3.18 

Jon Lester      BOS 32 32 208.0 167 81 75 83 225 19  9 1.20 3.25

Can you give the award to a guy with a record of 13 and 12? Actually, that nearly equals Nolan Ryan's lifetime winning percentage (.520 vs .526).

Having Lester bomb out of the competition by giving up eight runs in four innings in his last start would have helped Buckholz, since two candidates from the same team would likely draw votes from each other, but Buckholz's tight back will force him to miss his scheduled start today, thus taking away his chance for a much needed 18th victory.

 

[DodgerKing]

NL is a little clearer. Halladay has that one locked up

 

[salsadancer7]

PLAYER         Team GP GS  IP    H  R  ER BB SO  W  L  WHIP ERA 
Felix Hernandez SEA 34 34 249.2 194 80 63 70 232 13 12 1.06 2.27 
Clay Buchholz   BOS 28 28 173.2 142 55 45 67 120 17  7 1.20 2.33 
David Price     TB  31 31 207.2 170 71 63 79 187 19  6 1.20 2.73 
Trevor Cahill   OAK 30 30 196.2 155 73 65 63 118 18  8 1.11 2.97 
CC Sabathia     NYY 34 34 237.2 209 92 84 74 197 21  7 1.19 3.18 

Jon Lester      BOS 32 32 208.0 167 81 75 83 225 19  9 1.20 3.25

Can you give the award to a guy with a record of 13 and 12? Actually, that nearly equals Nolan Ryan's lifetime winning percentage (.520 vs .526).

Having Lester bomb out of the competition by giving up eight runs in four innings in his last start would have helped Buckholz, since two candidates from the same team would likely draw votes from each other, but Buckholz's tight back will force him to miss his scheduled start today, thus taking away his chance for a much needed 18th victory.

You gotta give Felix hi due. He plays on an awful team and to have an ERA THAT LOW....that is AMAZING! IF he is on a decent team, he might easily have 20 wins.

I think it will be sad that because Felix and David Price play in small markets, they have not gotten the media hype that Sabathia and the two Red Sox pitchers have gotten.

It will go to Sabathia, more than likely in a popularity contest.

 

[AntAltMike]

PLAYER         Team GP GS  IP    H  R  ER BB SO  W  L  WHIP ERA 
Felix Hernandez SEA 34 34 249.2 194 80 63 70 232 13 12 1.06 2.27 
CC Sabathia     NYY 34 34 237.2 209 92 84 74 197 21  7 1.19 3.18

I searched the Cy Young Award log for low won-lost percentages by award winning pitchers, and the lowest percentages seems to be that of Mike Scott who had a record of 18-11 and just barely eeked out Fernando Valenzuela, and Randy Jones, who went 22-14. Ferguson Jenkins won it in 1971 with a record of 24-13. Scott's margin of victory over Valenzuela may have been held down by the fact that a lot of people thought he was doctoring the ball.

                          Vote  1st
Rank             Team  Pts  Place Share W  L  W-L% ERA  GS CG SHO  IP    H   R  ER HR BB SO 
Mike Scott        HOU  98.0 15.0  82%   18 10 .643 2.22 37  7  5  275.1 182  73 68 17 72 306 
F'n'do Valenzuela LAD  88.0  9.0  73%   21 11 .656 3.14 34 20  3  269.1 226 104 94 18 85 242

 

[Paul Wozniak]

You gotta give Felix hi due. He plays on an awful team and to have an ERA THAT LOW....that is AMAZING! IF he is on a decent team, he might easily have 20 wins.

I think it will be sad that because Felix and David Price play in small markets, they have not gotten the media hype that Sabathia and the two Red Sox pitchers have gotten.

It will go to Sabathia, more than likely in a popularity contest.

Hmmmm.... Steve Carlton found a way to win on a crappier team one year. Sorry 13 wins is not enough for a Cy Young award.

 

[Jimbo]

I would give it to Price, but expect Sabathia to win it.

 

[BillD1984]

I would give it to Price, but expect Sabathia to win it.

I agree, Price should win it.

IMO, he has the best OVERALL stats (wins, winning pct., WHIP, ERA and K's) AND is on a playoff bound team.

 

[Jimbo]

Lets not forget , there are plenty of VERY GOOD pitchers out there that have never won the award, many times it goes to a media favorite instead, just like All Star voting, there may be better players that don't make it because someone else has the NAME.

 

[BillD1984]

Again, I find it absolutely amazing that the Red Sox have two starters in the Cy Young discussion, while their other three starters (Lackey, Beckett and Dice-K) are "earning" a collective $42 million this year!

 

[Jimbo]

Again, I find it absolutely amazing that the Red Sox have two starters in the Cy Young discussion, while their other three starters (Lackey, Beckett and Dice-K) are "earning" a collective $42 million this year!

How much are Buchholz and Lester making ?
Not chump change I'm sure.

 

[BillD1984]

How much are Buchholz and Lester making ?
Not chump change I'm sure.

Red Sox starting rotation 2010 salaries:


Lackey- $18,700,000
Beckett- $12,100,000
Dice-K- $8,333,333
Lester- $3,750,000
Wakefield- $3,500,000
Buchholz- $443,000 (not bad for 17-7, 2.33)

 

[AntAltMike]

The Red Sox have had it "easy", salarywise, for the last few years. In 2008, Buckholz, Lester, and Ellsbury were making about $400,000 each, Pedroia I think $457,000, Papelbon about $750,000 and Okajima about $1.2 million. Thats six all-star grade players (Okajima had a great first year as a set-up man), or one fourth of a major league roster, making a total of just over $3,000,000 for the season. And Youkilis made $3,000,000 himself that year. As I wrote here at the time, the market price for free agency eligible players of that quality is about $50 to $60 million a year, which is what the Red Sox will have to be paying them in another year or two if they want to keep them.