2008 SB Nation Cy Young Award Winners
by royalsreview
on Nov 5, 2008 4:59 PM EST
in News
Every year the baseball bloggers here at SB Nation get together and vote on the major post-season awards, using the same format and distribution system as the BBWAA. This year, in addition to my vote, site moderator and contributor "NYRoyal" also voted in the American League contests. Here are the irrelevant results from the weaker league:
| National League | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Lincecum | 14 | 2 | 1 | 77 |
| Johan Santana | 1 | 8 | 3 | 32 |
| Brandon Webb | - | 4 | 7 | 19 |
| CC Sabathia | 3 | - | 1 | 16 |
| Cole Hamels | - | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Roy Oswalt | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| Ryan Dempster | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| Dan Haren | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Edinson Volquez | - | - | 1 | 1 |
It's odd that the guy who finished a distant fourth actually received the second most first-place votes, and reflective of the Sabathia's unique circumstances this season.
And now for the American League:
| American League | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliff Lee | 13 | 5 | - | 80 |
| Roy Halladay | 5 | 10 | 1 | 56 |
| Jon Lester | - | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | - | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Mike Mussina | - | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | - | - | 4 | 4 |
| Ervin Santana | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| Justin Duchscherer | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Joe Nathan | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Essentially, the AL boiled down to a not-so-close two-person race, with the third place votes taking their usual role as randomness theater. Although Lee will likely win the "real" award because of his win total, he was actually a worthy candidate according to the more sophisticated metrics as well.
The only reason to prefer Halladay, as I did (voted Halladay-Lee-Lester), was the fact that he faced substantially tougher competition than did Lee, who seemingly pitched against the Royals and Twins forty times. (For my earlier post on this, click here.) I do not suspect the "real" Cy Young vote will be anywhere near this close, and Halladay may actually be surpassed by Lester or Frankie Rodriguez.
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Roy Halladay for Cy Young
by royalsreview
on Sep 29, 2008 3:18 AM EDT
Of AL pitchers with at least 180 innings pitches in 2008, guess who faced the weakest competition according to BP's Quality of Hitters Faced Report?
Cliff Lee.
26th out of 26th. Lee's average challeger was a .262/.330/.405 hitter.
At play here is the unbalaced schedule and an additional dose of good fortune. Lee faced the Royals five times, his most common opponent. His second most common foe was Minnesota, who he battled with on four occasions. Lee also snuck in two starts against both Oakland and Seattle each, as well as matchups against Oakland and San Diego. Really, all that was missing was a game against the Nats.
Halladay on the other hand, faced the second toughest set of hitters out of the 26 ALers who had over 180 IP. Slogging through another season of hell in the AL East (even Baltimore had a weirdly good offense this year). Halladay's average hitter was a .266/.342/.425 guy. Sure, that's not hugely different, but remember, we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of individual pitcher-hitter confrontations over five months.
Just something to think about when you cast your nonexistent Cy Young ballot.
53 comments | 0 recs
