The baseball season is slowly coming to a close and the field has dramatically narrowed to a handful of pitchers who have a shot at winning the 2009 American League Cy Young award.
Zack Greinke – Kansas City Royals
Before the start of the 2009 baseball season, Royals fans had high hopes for Zack Greinke, but no one expected him to be one of the most dominant pitchers when it was all said and done.
Through the weekend Greinke has started in 30 games and has been able to produce a 14 – 8 record while leading the American league with an outstanding 2.14 ERA. Greinke has pitched 210.1 innings, while striking out 224 batters and only walking 42 and keeping hitters to a .231 batting average
What has hurt Greinke’s run to an automatic Cy Young has been his production since the All-Star break. In 12 games, Greinke has compiled a 4-3 record in 83 innings of work. To his defense, Greinke has been able to maintain an ERA of 2.17 and struck out 95 batters.
When it comes to lack of run support, Greinke ranks up there as one of the league leaders. In the 19 games when Greinke has pitched at least 7 innings, the Royals have scored four runs or less 13 times. It has to make you wonder what type of season Greinke would have if he had pitched on a team like the Angels or Yankees.
CC Sabathia – New York Yankees
There were some baseball experts who said Sabathia’s arm would be shot after the way the Milwaukee Brewers abused him in 2008. Despite the warning, the New York Yankees offered him a ton of money and hoped for the best in 2009. Sabathia has delivered.
So far this year, he has started 31 games while compiling a 17 – 7 record. During those starts, Sabathia has pitched 2131 innings while posting a 3.42 ERA and had opponents batting only .234 against him. He has only walked 58 while striking out 178 batters.
While he has not been as dominant as he was last year, Sabathia has really turned it on since the All-Star break. Since then he has posted a 9 – 1 record with a 2.75 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 85 innings of work.
The biggest argument against Sabathia when it comes to the Cy Young has been because of batting potential of the Yankees’ lineup. In 17 of the games that Sabathia has pitched, the Yankees have scored at least 5 runs or more. This scoring barrage help make things easier for Sabathia when it comes to how he pitches the opposition.
Justin Verlander – Detroit Tigers
No one expected much from the Detroit Tigers, especially after how dreadful they were in 2008. The team was left with over 30 million in dead payroll and the batting lineup had several 4A players in starting roles.
While the experts predicted the Tigers to finish dead last, the team has been hanging on to first place in the American League central since May. The main reason for their dramatic turnaround has been Justin Verlander.
He has started in 31 games for the Tigers, earning a 16 – 8 record at this point in the season. Verlander has been a work horse for the Tigers, pitching 213.1 innings while maintaining a 3.14 ERA with a league high 239 strikeouts. Opponents have been held to a .24o batting average while only being issued 57 walks in the process.
Critics say what hurts Verlander’s chances is the fact that he pitches in the worst division in baseball, the Central. He has been a major contributor to the Tigers 48-26 record at home is third best in the American league. At Comerica Park in 2009, Verlander has combined for an 8-2 record with a 2.62 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 99.2 innings of work.
Felix Hernandez – Seattle Mariners
Every year there is a dark horse candidate for the Cy Young award, and this year is no exception. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners has quietly had a career year while playing on a team who gets little to no media attention.
So far in 2009, Hernandez has started 29 games for the Mariners and compiled a 15-4 record in 216.1 innings. He has a 2.45 ERA, which is the second lowest in the American league, to go along with 196 strikeouts and a.229 batting average.
While the lack of national attention will ultimately hurt Hernandez’s chance, the voters should take a look at Hernandez’s performance when he pitches at least 7 innings. In the 21 games where Hernandez has pitched 7 innings, he has compiled a commanding 12 – 0 record. Meanwhile his team has been held to three runs or less in 11 of the 21 times Hernandez has gone 7.
Greinke had an exceptional season with the Royals, but it will be hard to look past the low win total and the impact he had on the overall success of the Royals. Sabathia has turned things around but has done so with a potent lineup, while Verlander has taken the Tigers on his back and more often than not has won those games to help turn around a losing skid.
This year there is no clear cut winner when it comes to the 2009 AL Cy Young award, but Verlander has my nomination, narrowly edging out Greinke in the end.
Thank God I don’t have a Cy Young vote to cast. First off “moondog” my name is not Gabe, it’s Stupid. I spelled Z-A-C-K all by myself. And after reading your post you should know that I’m so completely stupid that I should be cast into the nether regions so that I won’t contaminate the rest of the planet or be embarrassed to actually claim to be a human being. “Greinke has had an exceptional season with the Royals, it is will be hard to look past the low win total and the impact he had on the overall success of the Royals.” You need to proofread by the way, especially since I didn’t proof read my own post and misspelled 14 words. If you actually look at the top three candidates statistics, Zack Greinke is by and large the best pitcher in the AL. He oly has 16 wins yes, but in 6 games he has started this year, he has given up 2 or fewer runs (earned or unearned) and still not gotten the win. With that being said it is unfounded and unprecedented to say that he did not have an impact on the overall success of the Royals. If anything he single-handedly saved them from being the worst team in history. He also saved me from reading this post, which I typed in one long paragraph like a first-grader would. A Cy Young Award is a personal achievment award, sort of like the time I won a contest for having the fewest number of active brain cells. Not a team award. A pitcher has no control over a team’s offense. It unfortunate that people still cannot seem to get over win totals. Greinke should not have to worry about wins, but about being the best pitcher in baseball, which his numbers clearly say he is. He shouldn’t need to worry about wins, as led the American League in ERA (2.16) and WHIP (1.07). He’s also second in strikeouts, second in complete games, and fifth in innings pitched. Win totals shouldn’t factor into this at all (especially when you consider the comically anemic Royals offense) Put him on a major market team and not only would he have over 20 wins this season, but baseball pundits like me wouldn’t have to pretend to know how to write a coherent sentence.
I didn’t write the post ding-a-ling. Direct your comments to the author and pay attention to detail next time.
Oh, and with regard to your suggestion that I proof read our posts, perhaps you may want to do the same, you know, by correcting the half-dozen or so spelling errors. I won’t point out the grammatical or punctuation errors you made because I figure the spelling errors will keep you busy for infinity.
Have a nice day.
Moondog!
No mention of a Doc Halladay?? 3rd in wins, 3rd in ERA, SO-Walk ratio of 6 (208-35!!), better WHIP than either Hernandez or Sabathia, and all this while (once again) logging the most innings…and oh yeah, tossing 9 complete games (better than all but 1 team!
And not even a consideration?? I’m sure just an over-sight on your part?!