This blog has been created since I spend all of my life arguing sports with Willis Austin. Being the two knowledgeable sports fans that we are this is our first attempt to include people on the daily banter that often consumes one's life. This blog will often have a daily topic in which you the public will have the opportunity to chime in and give your respective opinions.
Friday, October 1, 2010
AL Cy Young
We need to properly address this... Where do you stand?? Old school(Wins) or new generation(ERA, WHIP, Quality Starts)... The real question is, King Felix, David Price or CC Sabathia... Who deserves the award??
2010 Cy Young winner: Felix Hernandez - 13-12, 2.27 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 30 QS
Again King Felix leads the league in Quality Starts. This year is even more special though. He also lead the AL in IP (249.2, Sabbathia was 2nd with 237.2), ERA and K's (232, Jered Weaver was 2nd with 229, but Weaver has a start coming tomorrow). Yea, I know his team onlny got him 13 wins...not an impressive number, and would by far be the lowest total of any Cy Young Award winner who was not a closer. However, I think the stats show just how bad wins are as a category. How can the guy lead the entire league in 4 of our 5 fantasy baseball pitching categories, but not be the best pitcher in baseball in the AL? And I don't even have any idea how many saves David Aardsma and the rest of that awful bullpen blew that coulda cost Felix more wins. He's my Cy Young winner...
I just want someone to explain to me why Zach Grienke won last year and not Felix Hernandez? If wins is the big factor in 2009 King had 19 and Grienke had 16. Everyone made the run support argument for Greinke but we cant do that for King this year. What is the precedent being set here? What is it im missing?
I'm going to first address Showtime... Please stop crying!! We all agreed that King was robbed last year, and you and I know why!! So stop with the whining, we didn't address it b/c the blog wasn't created.
Now to you Matty P...
Please don't take this as me taking a shot at King Felix. He had a great year! A monster year! He doesn't deserve the Cy Young this year. I like way you put all the stats up and did your research. The only thing you were missing was a pie chart. The mistake you made is that you're making your decision off of the stats. Stats don't tell the whole story of anything. Your forgetting about what me and Jamil call the "eye test". The eye test doesn't show up in the stat's! The eye test takes everything into consideration, including impact, situations and just knowing the damn game!!
Matty P, you're a intelligent man and an avid baseball fan. There's no way with a straight face you can tell me that the 3-game set the at Philly on Sept 20-22 with the Braves is as big as a 3-game set on the same days between the Brewers and Pirates. No way in hell!! If a Ross Olendorf threw a 2 hit shutout in one of those games is as important as Cole Hamels going 7 giving up 3 earned, 8 hits and getting the win. Now the stats will show that Olendorf was better but in reality and giving it the "eye test" you know that Cole was better in a much bigger spot.
Why do I bring that up?? It perfectly applies to this Cy Young debate...
There's no way you can that on September 13, 2010 when the Yanks and Rays had the best records in baseball(87-57, NY. 87-56,TB), in the heat of a pennant race with the game on National TV. CC and David Price went head up both went 8 innings, 0 earned with 2 and 3 hits each. Now you can honestly say that game should count for as much as King going 8 and 0 earned against Toronto on Sept 22 when nobody outside of those markets watched?? They pitched in bigger games, against tougher line-ups and they led there teams to the Playoffs!! There's no stat for the impact they have but you would have to watch to know... That's why they should win.
Im gonna have to agree w/ Will here. yes i agree King had a good year(as far as ERA, IP, K's went) But i cant sit here and tell you that he should be the Cy Young bc he had the lowest in those respective catagories. CC n Price shouldnt be penalized bc the Mariners suck and cant score for him. People say wins arent what they used to be when dealing w/ the Cy Young award.. well.. how about losses? The man just barely was .500 and just bc he had the lowest in those catagories everyone's on his shit like he should win?? i dont think so. What was he pitching for? He was pitching for himself bc Seattle is ass and they didnt go through the same 162 game season that the Rays n Jaaankees did. David Price had a great year and that boy is gonna be electic for years to come. He had some great starts vs us down the stretch. He pitched in those meaningful games. Think of what the AL East came down to... basically the last day of the season. So every game counts right? Its a different atmosphere when ur in playoff contention than it is if u know ur squad is booshzy and u just out there every 5th day. My Cy Young winner is defineatly CC. How could it not be? Yes i am a Jankees fan and yes i might be a little bias but in this case i feel i have every right to be. I've seen probably every one of his starts this season with the exception of day games when im at work and had to sneak in as much as i can(www.atdhe.net) - get on that site, thank me later. But either way, CC came out every start and gave us a chance to win every start in the toughest division in baseball. He is a warrior. Every 5th day you just give him the ball and he will take care of work. He has no problem throwing 100+ pitches and he always gets himself outta jams. You hardly have to use ur bullpen when CC pitches too... that has to account for something. All in all i would say CC then Price. I cant honestly give it to someone that has a 13-12 record on a team tahts 40 games under 5hundo..no matter how low those other stats are. These other guys pitched their teams into the postseason...Sorry Felix.. come to the Bronx..we'll get u that Cy Young!
I am Yankee fan, but I would say that Cliff Lee deserves the AL Cy Young award, because of the number of games that he went deep into his starts. 7,8, complete games. There is not a pitcher out there right now who I would wanna give the ball to.
After seeing the final numbers, I have my AL Cy Young Award in this order....
ReplyDelete5. Jon Lester - 19-9, 3.25 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 20 QS
4. Clay Buccholz - 17-7, 2.33 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 19 QS
3. CC Sabbathia - 21-7, 3.18 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 26 QS
2. David Price - 19-6, 2.73 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 25 QS
2010 Cy Young winner: Felix Hernandez - 13-12, 2.27 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 30 QS
Again King Felix leads the league in Quality Starts. This year is even more special though. He also lead the AL in IP (249.2, Sabbathia was 2nd with 237.2), ERA and K's (232, Jered Weaver was 2nd with 229, but Weaver has a start coming tomorrow). Yea, I know his team onlny got him 13 wins...not an impressive number, and would by far be the lowest total of any Cy Young Award winner who was not a closer. However, I think the stats show just how bad wins are as a category. How can the guy lead the entire league in 4 of our 5 fantasy baseball pitching categories, but not be the best pitcher in baseball in the AL? And I don't even have any idea how many saves David Aardsma and the rest of that awful bullpen blew that coulda cost Felix more wins. He's my Cy Young winner...
NEXT.....
I just want someone to explain to me why Zach Grienke won last year and not Felix Hernandez? If wins is the big factor in 2009 King had 19 and Grienke had 16. Everyone made the run support argument for Greinke but we cant do that for King this year. What is the precedent being set here? What is it im missing?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to first address Showtime... Please stop crying!! We all agreed that King was robbed last year, and you and I know why!! So stop with the whining, we didn't address it b/c the blog wasn't created.
ReplyDeleteNow to you Matty P...
Please don't take this as me taking a shot at King Felix. He had a great year! A monster year! He doesn't deserve the Cy Young this year. I like way you put all the stats up and did your research. The only thing you were missing was a pie chart. The mistake you made is that you're making your decision off of the stats. Stats don't tell the whole story of anything. Your forgetting about what me and Jamil call the "eye test". The eye test doesn't show up in the stat's! The eye test takes everything into consideration, including impact, situations and just knowing the damn game!!
Matty P, you're a intelligent man and an avid baseball fan. There's no way with a straight face you can tell me that the 3-game set the at Philly on Sept 20-22 with the Braves is as big as a 3-game set on the same days between the Brewers and Pirates. No way in hell!! If a Ross Olendorf threw a 2 hit shutout in one of those games is as important as Cole Hamels going 7 giving up 3 earned, 8 hits and getting the win. Now the stats will show that Olendorf was better but in reality and giving it the "eye test" you know that Cole was better in a much bigger spot.
Why do I bring that up?? It perfectly applies to this Cy Young debate...
There's no way you can that on September 13, 2010 when the Yanks and Rays had the best records in baseball(87-57, NY. 87-56,TB), in the heat of a pennant race with the game on National TV. CC and David Price went head up both went 8 innings, 0 earned with 2 and 3 hits each. Now you can honestly say that game should count for as much as King going 8 and 0 earned against Toronto on Sept 22 when nobody outside of those markets watched?? They pitched in bigger games, against tougher line-ups and they led there teams to the Playoffs!! There's no stat for the impact they have but you would have to watch to know... That's why they should win.
Let's see your argument for that!!!
Im gonna have to agree w/ Will here. yes i agree King had a good year(as far as ERA, IP, K's went) But i cant sit here and tell you that he should be the Cy Young bc he had the lowest in those respective catagories. CC n Price shouldnt be penalized bc the Mariners suck and cant score for him. People say wins arent what they used to be when dealing w/ the Cy Young award.. well.. how about losses? The man just barely was .500 and just bc he had the lowest in those catagories everyone's on his shit like he should win?? i dont think so. What was he pitching for? He was pitching for himself bc Seattle is ass and they didnt go through the same 162 game season that the Rays n Jaaankees did.
ReplyDeleteDavid Price had a great year and that boy is gonna be electic for years to come. He had some great starts vs us down the stretch. He pitched in those meaningful games. Think of what the AL East came down to... basically the last day of the season. So every game counts right? Its a different atmosphere when ur in playoff contention than it is if u know ur squad is booshzy and u just out there every 5th day.
My Cy Young winner is defineatly CC. How could it not be? Yes i am a Jankees fan and yes i might be a little bias but in this case i feel i have every right to be. I've seen probably every one of his starts this season with the exception of day games when im at work and had to sneak in as much as i can(www.atdhe.net) - get on that site, thank me later. But either way, CC came out every start and gave us a chance to win every start in the toughest division in baseball. He is a warrior. Every 5th day you just give him the ball and he will take care of work. He has no problem throwing 100+ pitches and he always gets himself outta jams. You hardly have to use ur bullpen when CC pitches too... that has to account for something.
All in all i would say CC then Price. I cant honestly give it to someone that has a 13-12 record on a team tahts 40 games under 5hundo..no matter how low those other stats are. These other guys pitched their teams into the postseason...Sorry Felix.. come to the Bronx..we'll get u that Cy Young!
I am Yankee fan, but I would say that Cliff Lee deserves the AL Cy Young award, because of the number of games that he went deep into his starts. 7,8, complete games. There is not a pitcher out there right now who I would wanna give the ball to.
ReplyDelete