Carston Charles Sabathia made his first start as a Brewer on July 8, surrendering two earned runs through six innings and earning his first victory as a Brewer.
Since then, Sabathia has won each of his eight decisions in the National League, with five complete games in those eight starts. With an ERA of 1.59 and an average of just under nine strikeouts per nine innings, CC has kept Milwaukee in the playoff picture.
He has only pitched in the National League for half of a season, and was just mediocre in the American League during the first half; Sabathia ended his tenure as an Indian with a 6-8 season record and a 3.78 ERA.
There is no doubt that Sabathia has been close to invincible on the mound since joining the Brewers, but is it really fair that some baseball analysts are throwing his name into the NL Cy Young Award race?
Brandon Webb, who leads the NL in wins and ranks second in innings pitched, won his first nine starts of the season. Webb did go 2-4 in his next six decisions, but he is now on an eight-game winning streak.
Now 19-4, Webb strikes out 7.5 hitters per nine innings and has a stellar 2.74 ERA. With five or six starts remaining, Arizona's ace appears to be the favorite to win the National League Cy Young.
Milwaukee ranks fifth in the NL in runs scored and Arizona is seventh. The No. 14 ranking is attributed to the Giants, who have scored more than 100 fewer runs than the Brewers and the Diamondbacks.
Lincecum features an NL-leading ERA of 2.48, and his record of 14-3 is much more impressive because of San Francisco's atrocious offense. Lincecum also leads the NL with 200 strikeouts in 177.2 innings pitched, good for a ratio of 10.1 strikeouts every nine innings.
It may be difficult for Lincecum to pick up victories down the stretch. The likelihood of inexperienced offensive players seeing some light when the rosters are expanded to 40 players is quite high, especially given San Francisco's struggles, but if Lincecum can keep pitching as dominantly as he has, his name will certainly be in the mix for NL Cy Young candidates.
Edinson Volquez and Ryan Dempster are both 15-5. Volquez has a 2.80 ERA, while Dempster's ERA sits at 2.85. However, neither Volquez nor Dempster lead the NL in any prominent statistical category, so their respective chances of winning the NL Cy Young are not too promising.
The only rational way to decide if Sabathia is meritorious of the NL Cy Young award is to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out. However, Sabathia's performance will really need to transcend the efforts of Webb and Lincecum for him to have a chance of winning the Cy Young.
Right now, considering that the Cy Young award is supposed to be given to the league's best pitcher for the whole season, it would not be seem fair to give Sabathia the award.
Anything can happen over the course of five weeks of baseball, in which Sabathia, Webb, and Lincecum will all start five or six more games. If Sabathia wins his final six starts, including going the distance in four, it will be hard for the Cy Young voting committee to eliminate his name so quickly.
Can CC Sabathia Win the NL Cy Young Award?
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17 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Paul Boye 10 months ago
Looking solely at a pitcher's wins and ERA doesn't give you the full picture. Throwing in the K/9 ratio is a good choice, as that usually tells you a good bit about a pitcher's true effectiveness.
Eliminating names, wins, and ERA, here's a look at the contestants you named:
A: 184 IP, 166 ERA+, 153 K, 45 BB, 1.10 WHIP
B: 73 IP, 270 ERA+, 69 K, 15 BB, 1.03 WHIP
C: 177.2 IP, 173 ERA+, 200 K, 67 BB, 1.19 WHIP
D: 170.2 IP, 158 ERA+, 153 K, 65 BB, 1.17 WHIP
E: 157.2 IP, 161 ERA+, 155 K, 73 BB, 1.31 WHIP
Webb, Sabathia, Lincecum, Dempster, Volquez respectively. Webb and Lincecum are the only ones who should merit consideration, "wins" aside.
Though Webb should lock that up, too, so it's basically for naught.
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Ari Kramer 10 months ago
You are right about adding WHIP into the picture, but I think that wins and ERA are more effective in this type of article. Especially with these guys, their WHIP's are all so close together, its hard to explain how that should have an affect on the outcome of the voting. Thanks for the comment, though.
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Michael Inglis 10 months ago
ERA and the W-L record is the most important stats for they CY young winner. You made some good points and I personally like Lincecum but the winner will be Webb, especially if he leads them into the playoffs.
Sabathia has a shot though, he would have to go 14,15, or 16-0 and keep his ERA low to win. It's a tough task though.
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Patrick Murray 10 months ago
Sabathia could win it, like u said, if he wins his remaining starts and gets a complete game in most of them. Look out for Johan Santana though. He is tied with Webb and Lincecum with 21 quality starts, and currently has a 2.64 ERA. Santana traditionally dominates in September, and could end up with the lowest ERA in the NL and over 200 strikeouts.
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Brandon Heikoop 10 months ago
The Cy Young Award goes to the Most Valuable pitcher in the league. If Sabathia's next (and final) 5 starts are as incredible as the starts leading up to today, there is little reason he should not win the award. He has pitched at a level not seen since RJ moved to the Astros way back when.
At this point, my vote would go to Lincecum. If it needs to go to a pitcher in the playoff hunt to warrant 'most valuable' then Santana and Webb are neck and neck.
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Ari Kramer 10 months ago
Actually, it is not the most valuable. It is simply the best pitcher, however they determine that.
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Darnell Burton 10 months ago
Ari, shut up unless you have something of substance to add to the discussion. Yours was the most pointless comment I've read in days.
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Carl Stream 10 months ago
Sabathia has no chance of winning the Cy Young. The voters are stupid and will give him votes, but he will not and should not win.
And wins and ERA are stupid.
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Darnell Burton 10 months ago
Carl - is it your lifelong goal to use the word "stupid" as every other word that comes out of your mouth? If so, you're well on your way to achieving that goal.
"That's stupid"
I'll bet people really like arguing with you, guy.
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Dirk Kird 10 months ago
C.C. has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the Cy, even if he leads the Brewers to the playoffs. In 1998 Randy Johnson (10-1, 1.28 ERA) led the Astros to the playoffs after being transfered mid-season from the Mariners and finished only SIXTH in voting.
In any case, the award is Webb's to lose at this point. Lincecum has pitched outstandingly in SF, but the fact that he has pitched less innings, has 5 less wins, a higher WHIP, lower K/BB ratio and plays for a team that is not part of a pennant race will largely offset his astounding K and K/9 totals.
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David Wiley 10 months ago
Dirk, some great points, especially the Randy Johnson trade comparison.
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Patrick Murray 10 months ago
Wow, I didn't know that about the Big Unit. In that case, Sabathia shouldn't win MVP
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Michael Bruckerhoff 10 months ago
CC Cannot win unless he gets 160 innings in the NL. that is the requirement and his AL innings do not count. Wins are extremely overrated in this aspect because it relies too much on the offense and bullpen. The Freak in San Fransisco deserves big considerations because his WHIP is low and the offense and bullpen have cost him in the area of 5-7 wins. Webb does lead the crew now for the cy young though
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Steven Resnick 10 months ago
He can it's a remote possibility though. The winner is either Brandon Webb or Tim Lincecum. More then likely it will be CC, but in reality based on the numbers and overall dominance it goes to Lincecum. If it wasn't for the Giants lack of offense you would see a few more wins for Lincecum.
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Paul Boye 10 months ago
10 starts, 79 IP, 74 K, 15 BB, 1.59 ERA (271 ERA+)
6 starts, 41.2 IP, 30 K, 10 BB, 1.94 ERA
That second line is Brett Myers since he came back from the DL, not including tonight's start against the Dodgers.
Just goes to show that you really can't award an award for half a year.
Also, anyone who is still arguing that wins are an important stat for a pitcher, go read my article on it. Wins are one of the last things you should look at.
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Paul Boye 10 months ago
It's also worth noting that 5 of Myers's walks in that span came in his very first start back up from the minors, versus the Mets. Granted, walks are walks, but the point stands even when you throw that start into his 6 since the return from the minors.
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Paul Boye 10 months ago
Bump Myers's line up to this after tonight's start:
7 starts, 48.2 IP, 38 K, 13 BB, 1.66 ERA
Fewer innings still but at least comparable. Sorry to belabor the point.
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Terry Flores 10 months ago
If they could give the Cy Young soley on the basis of a new category "The Delivery Most Likely Not to Cost You Your Career", Lincecum has it hands down. As it is, he seems to be proving a lot of his critics and even the fraidy scouts that he can deliver in a big way despite his size and the meager offense produced by his A-Ball team, the Giants. Sabbathia deserves consideration, for durability alone (see complete games), but I agree that can you rightfully give it to someone who only spent half the season in the NL? And Webb, well numbers (ie. wins), fate and a slightly better-than-average team conspire to lock it up for him. Then again, Lincecum's Seabiscuit moniker may prevail. We'll see how biased the Baseball Writers are in the end. I know one of them who is likely voting for CC, but hey, that person covers the Brewers.
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Ari Kramer 10 months ago
By the way, CC went the whole way again, giving up one hit and striking out 11. The Brewers are appealing the hit to the office of Major League Baseball, claiming it should be an error -- giving CC a no-hitter.
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