King Felix Wins Cy Young

Felix Hernandez may have only won 13 games, but hell, he deserves the Cy Young. The 13 wins by Hernandez marked the fewest for a Cy Young starter in a full season, Tim Lincecum set the record last year with 15 victories for the San Francisco Giants.

"The Seattle Mariners ace earned the AL Cy Young Award on Thursday despite a modest 13-12 record. His major league-leading 2.27 ERA and superior stats put him far ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays' David Price and the New York Yankees' CC Sabathia and their impressive win-loss numbers."ESPN

Felix Hernandez is the only player I like better than Dice K, so I'm alright with him winning it as I assume they are best friends in real life. I would sell my soul to the devil to have Felix on the Red Sox, I would trade every prospect the Red Sox have in order to get him.

But the voters got it right, they looked at the numbers instead of a win/loss record and determined that Felix has better numbers then any pitcher out their. He has had bad luck in Seattle where they can't score runs. But the thing that puts him over the top is how he constantly out dueled CC and the Yankees, the Red Sox and other playoff teams.

Felix is the best pitcher in baseball and it's good to see he gets something for it.

A Closer Look at the AL Cy Young Award

For decades the Baseball Writers Association of America has been handing out the Cy Young award to the best pitcher in each league. And for decades the most heavily weighed factor has been a pitcher's win total. It was long considered an atrocity if a pitcher with less than 20 wins was given the award. In fact, that has only happened a combined 24 times in the AL and NL since the award has been given (not counting RP winners.) Last year's winner, Zack Greinke tied the all-time low in wins for an AL Cy Young winner with 16.

Recent trends and developments in statistics and saber metrics (insert nerd joke here) have become wide spread enough that some writers are beginning to consider them more heavily when voting for the winner. (See Greinke, Zack K.C. Royals 2009) No longer, does the award get decided by archaic statistics like Wins, Losses, ERA and BAA (batting average against). We now have things like BABIP (batting average per balls in play) and WAR (a measurement of a player's contributions to a win compared to a replacement player...Wins Against Replacement). Basically, some nerds who jerk off to baseball games came up with some pretty sweet statistics to try and more accurately measure a player's performance by removing factors out of his control.

The AL Cy Young award is, by most accounts a race between two pitchers. C.C. Sabatthia of the Yankees and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners, although some might include David Price and Clay Buchloz of the Rays and Red Sox, respectively. A few fools might even try to throw Trevor Cahill in the mix, although without 200 IP he's not in my consideration. For the sake, of brevity and simplicity we'll keep this comparison between the top two in my consideration, C.C. and King Felix.

The Argument for C.C. Sabatthia

C.C. knows how to win. Or so Yankees fans and other ignoramouses will try and tell you. However, that is an outdated way of looking at things. C.C. greatly benefits from playing for the Yankees, arguably the best offense in baseball. This is not to say, he's not great and isn't deserving of being in the conversation. He is, in fact near the top of many advanced statistics. WHIP, Percentage of runners left on base, and Wins Against Replacement (WAR) are just a few categories in which he excels (but doesn't lead).

The Argument for Felix Hernandez

King Felix should be one guy who is very glad that an army of basement nerds have come up with the statistics I referenced above. Without them, people might look at his 13-12 record and think he has no chance at winning the Cy Young award. However, a close look reveals that King Felix has been by most measurements the most dominant hurler in the league. He is the leader in Quality Starts (6 IP or more and 3 ER or less) and Innings Pitched. He also has 6 complete games, 4 more than C.C.

Side by Side

Basically, Felix leads Sabatthia in every category that is not dependent on his team, ie. Wins and Losses.

Runs Allowed
C.C. - 92
Felix - 80

Strikeouts
C.C. - 197
Felix - 232

Wins When Team Scores 4 runs or Less (4 is about league average)
C.C. - 6
Felix - 8

When Team Scores 3 runs or less
C.C. - 1
Felix - 2

WAR (Wins Against Replacement)
C.C. - 5.4
Felix - 6.0

If those stats aren't enough to convince you take a look at some of this anecdotal evidence.

In 7 of Hernandez's last 13 starts the Mariners have scored ZERO RUNS! What?!

He has pitched into the 7th inning or better in 24 consecutive starts.

If you give him 4 runs or more, he doesn't lose. He hasn't lost once in that scenario all year long.

He has given up 17 Unearned runs this season. Meaning that those 80 R mentioned earlier is really 63 ER. In almost 250 IP!

You can't hold the failings of his teammates against him. King Felix reigns supreme on the mound. The Mariners are the worst run scoring team in the league, barely cracking 500 runs to this point. The Yankees on the other hand are the league leader in runs with over 830 scored so far.

The AL Cy Young should definitely go to King Felix. Let's hope the crusty old writers are all reading fangraph.com!


*NL Cy Young Award debate later this week.

Lincecum Wins 2nd Cy Young Award

"Giants ace Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young Award on Thursday for the second consecutive season to become the first repeat winner since Randy Johnson, emerging from one of the tightest votes in the history of the honor (Sportsline)."

Little bit torn on this one. Lincecum once again had a great year, but Carpenter I may have had the better one. Lincecum was 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA, 261 K's in 225.1 innings, while Carpenter was 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA, 144 K's in 192.2 innings. I guess it was close enough that the K's and innings got Lincecum his 2nd in 2 years, which is the first time that has happened since Randy Johnson. So basically he is fucking nasty.

DP and I were talking last night and I came up with the thought that Bedard would be a great fit on this team. He can probably be bought at a relatively low price (compared to the Lackeys of the world), and if he could stay healthy would give them a sick rotation of...

Lincecum
Cain
Bedard
Bumgarner (watch out for this kid)
Zito

That's a nice rotation, but they would still need to add some offense (pickup Dye, maybe trade for Dunn, ect).

Fraud Zack Greinke Wins Gay Cy Young

Zack Greinke winning the Cy Young is a travesty to humanity. He is a little pussy anxiety disorder bitch, who had a hell of a first half. We all know that King Felix Hernandez is the true winner of this award. King Felix was royally excellent on the mound, tying for the AL lead in wins and finishing first in BAA, quality start percentage (0.85) and win percentage (.792). Meanwhile Grienke had 16 wins and 9 losses. Felix had 1 more no decisions than Greinke and had a 3 more wins and 3 less losses. If you are just judging era and strike outs than Greinke. For the the complete pitcher and most dominant and most dominant against the best teams it's hands down Felix. I hope the MLB is happy they made little Zacky happy. Now die.

DP's Half Assed Cy Young Assessment

Basically this is a two person race but to appease the stupid Yankees fans I'll throw CC in.

Let's see you have Greinke, King Felix and CC.

Zach Grienke is 15-8 with a 2.08 and 229 Ks

Felix Hernandez is 17-5 with a 2.49 era and 207 Ks

CC Sabathia is 18-7 with a 3.31 era and 186 Ks

The only way I'd give the award is to Zack Greinke is if his era somehow dips below 2. But in my world where I wear Felix Hernandez sunglasses, I think Felix should and will win it. Felix not only has pitched phenomenally he has shut out the Yankees, Angels, and Red Sox ALL at home. That's pretty unbelievable. Also, even though his era is slightly higher than Zack, he has more wins, less losses and just all around way cooler of a person. CC is fat and doesn't deserve anything.

WooHoo: Tim Lincecum Wins Cy Young

Lincecum was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place club that finished 72-90.

Lincecum was one of "those guys" that I hated for no real reason, but after seeing this interview (18 seconds is WooHoo part) he is one of my favorite pitchers. He is 5-11, has weird mechanics and plays for the Giants, yet he won the Cy Young. Amazing.

K-Rod Breaks Save Record

Francisco Rodriguez broke the saves record last night when he recorded his 58th save of the year. This guy has been incredible this year, and he is going to get a huge contract going into next season. The question now is...does he deserve Cy Young consideration? I think so, but I don't think he will win it. Cliff Lee is having too good of a year for a closer to win the Cy Young. Saying that, people have to at least discuss him, because he just broke the saves record, and is most likely going to have over 60 saves for the season. Let me repeat that, 60 SAVES FOR 1 SEASON! That is incredible, and the Angels are the team to beat in the entire MLB.

-BMack

Fuck Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee is a dick. The reason I hate him is because I have been waiting all year for this douche to explode and for my boy Dice-K to take over the Cy Young race, but nope. After Lee's great game last night, a complete game, five hit shut out, it pretty much stomps on any chance Dice winning anything. Lee is now 20-2, with 2.32 and 149 Ks, which is very impressive. But I am sick of these Cleveland Indian pitchers ruining Red Sox pitchers from winning the Cy Young. Last year it was C.C. Sabathia over Josh Beckett and this year it is Cliff Lee over Dice-K.

AL Cy Young Debate: Yes, Already

Well I finally calmed down and don't want to hurt Bob anymore. I still believe he sucks; but it is time to move on. I already discussed Dice and Lester a little bit, but now I will get a little bit further in depth with all of the contestants for this years AL Cy Young race. I have it down to four pitchers; Dice K, Jon Lester, Cliff Lee, and Roy Halladay.

Lets get the hometown guys out of the way

Long Shot #1

Lester is 12 and 4 with a 3.17 era and 114 Ks and a no hitter under his belt this year. Don't get me wrong these are amazing numbers, especially for a guy who I thought was going to be 10-10 and a 4.50 era, but I don't think these are Cy Young worthy. He will finish with around 16 wins, which is nice, but I believe voters will think he should have more on a Red Sox caliber team.

Long Shot #2

Dice K is 15-2 with a 2.77 era and 109 Ks. An outstanding second season, but voters will look down on his high walk count (77 walks) and short outings. As much as he is my boy, this just is not going to be his year, even if he finishes with 17-18 wins.

Now the guy who will win, but I don't want to win.

What bad things can I possibly say about Cliff Lee other than I hate his face. Cliff was sent down to the minors last year for being shitty, but this year he cockslapped the whole AL and put up some incredible numbers. Lee is 17-2 with a 2.43 era with 134 Ks, and 3 CGs on a terrible Cleveland team. He will win it this year, but I smell a Jon Garland, Estaban Loiaza and Jarrod Washburn type career. Don't get used to this, Lee willl be lucky if he finishes over .500 next year.

The guy who I would vote for:

Roy Halladay

Roy has been an absolute warrior for Toronto forever, and I never really cared for him too much. However, this year he has changed my perspective on him ten fold. He is 14-9 with a 2.64 era with 159 Ks and 8 complete games and 2 shut outs. Toronto only gives Roy 2.88 runs per game which is partially the reason why he has 9 losses. The 9 losses will definitely hurt his chances and probably be the reason Lee gets the Cy Young, but 8 complete games for this seasoned veteran is remarkable.