Bleacher Report - San Francisco Giants

Tim Lincecum Proving Himself in High School

Arne Christensen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:36:33 -0500

I've pieced together a post elsewhere about Tim Lincecum's success as a high school pitcher at Liberty High, located south of Seattle, in 2002 and 2003 from Seattle Times reports. To celebrate Lincecum's repeat Cy Young award today, here's an excerpt from the Times of May 30, 2003. It describes the story of Lincecum proving himself to Liberty coach Glen Walker in spring 2002:

The glowing reports, the junior-varsity success, the numerous promises that the kid could pitch—let’s just say they didn’t make an immediate believer out of Glen Walker.

“I’m looking at this 5-foot-9, 120-pound body going, ‘How good can he be?’ ” said Walker, Liberty’s baseball coach.

Then one afternoon last spring, Walker threw the skinny kid with the live right arm into a positively treacherous save situation against conference-rival Skyline.

One out. Man on second. Two all-state players, Dan Gronski and Derek Decater, due up. Tim Lincecum struck them both out. Looking.

And from then on, Walker needed no convincing.

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The Encore Was Even Better: Tim Lincecum Wins the 2009 NL Cy Young

Danny Penza — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:05:09 -0500

Coming into the 2009 season, many people wondered what exactly Tim Lincecum could do following a first full year in the bigs where he won the National League Cy Young Award.

It's not that we expect a drop off or anything like that, but you have to wonder what a guy can do after winning a Cy Young as a 24-year-old who is just two years out of college.

Well, we found out.

Tim Lincecum: 2009 NL Cy Young Award winner—in back-to-back fashion.

That's what you call getting it done.

He now has two more Cy Young Awards than arguably the best pitcher in Giants history, the great Juan Marichal. He joins a club of National League pitchers with consecutive awards that only has three other members—Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, and Randy Johnson.

The results didn't come in with Obama-like landslide like last year. In fact, they were far from it. Instead of the comfortable margin of victory over Johan Santana he had in 2008, Lincecum squeaked past the two Cardinals aces and win by just six points and 10 points, respectively. He didn't even get the most first place votes—that went to Adam Wainwright with 12.

If either Wainright or Chris Carpenter had won, you wouldn't have gotten much of an argument from me. They both had seasons more than worthy of winning the Cy Young. Heck, most years they would have won.

But with the smallest candidate standing tall, they saw The Freak win the award yet again.

You could even say that the 2009 version of Lincecum was better than 2008. He cut his ERA down from 2.62 to 2.48 and his WHIP from 1.17 to 1.05. He did strike out four fewer batters than last season, but he also walked less than he did in 2008 in just about the same amount of innings.

Equipped with his devastating changeup that he seemingly has evolved overnight, he again led the Senior Circuit in strikeouts with 261. He was tied with teammate Matt Cain with four complete games and a group of five for the league lead with two shutouts

Yeah, there was room to improve and he did just that.

But things weren't easy. Lincecum struggled down the stretch, going just 2-3 with a 3.38 ERA in the final month and change of the season. He struggled with his command at times and he clearly had lost some zip on his oh-so-powerful fastball.

The 15 wins were the obvious outlier. Not many starting pitchers who are even considered for the award can say they had a legit shot of winning with so few wins.

The run support numbers may say he was basically even with Carpenter, but you know the Giants lack of offense hurt him on numerous occasions. I mean, how many people have shut down the Philadelphia Phillies and their mighty offense, in the City of Brotherly Love, and lost?

Not many.

But that's the beauty of Lincecum.

He can overcome the obvious shortcomings of the team he plays on and stake his claim as the best in the league...again. Last year he was on one of the worst teams in baseball, with one of the worst offenses, and won it. This year the offense was just as woeful, if not worse, and he still put the team on his back time after time and got the job done.

So let's all take a step back and admire what Lincecum has accomplished after just two full seasons in the big leagues—two Cy Young Awards and he is still only 25. You think that isn't complete dominance?

Now we will all wonder what he has to do to win the Cy in 2010.

Dare we say the third time is yet another charm?

The orange and black faithful will anxiously awaiting what will happen in chapter three of this best-selling novel.

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Did The Voters Get It Right With Greinke, Lincecum As Cy Young Winners?

NW Sports Report — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:31:28 -0500

We learned yesterday that the baseball writers of America voted for Royals stud Zack Greinke the American League Cy Young award winner over Mariners young phenom Felix Hernandez.

Today it's been announced and confirmed that the product of the University of Washington baseball program and bona fied San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has won his second consecutive Cy Young award in the National League beating out the two birds Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright for the award.

Lincecum now has become the only player to win the Cy Young award in consecutive years since Randy Johnson did it four years in a row from 1999-2002.

So now the question becomes did the writers get it right with Greinke and Lincecum?

Well let's take a look at both players compared to their voting counterparts.

American League:

Zack Greinke : 16-8, 2.16 ERA, 242 SO, 1.07 WHIP, 6 CG, 229 IP, 9.5 K/9 and 2.2 B/9.

Greinke shot onto the scene in the beginning of the season winning his first six starts and averaging 7 1/2 innings through those six games. His ERA through those six games was 0.40 and it finally crossed over the one run per game mark on May 31st in a 7-4 lost to the Chicago Whitesox.

However Greinke would have another six game skid except in the lose column. From July 3rd to August 3rd he lost his six straight starts and averaged 6.1 innings per game in that stretch.

So yes Greinke had his higest high and his lowest low much like any pitcher does but he still finished the season in the top five of every major pitching stat.

Greinke averaged near seven innings per game in 2009 (6.9 to be exact).

Felix Hernandez: 19-5, 2.49 ERA, 217 SO, 1.14 WHIP, 2 CG, 238 IP, 8 K/9 and 3 B/9.

Felix Hernandez has been "on the scene" a little bit longer than Greinke has but no doubt they are the two best pitchers in the AL. Felix won his first five decisions, one short of Greinke's six. In those five games Felix averaged 6.8 IP/G.

Now the main argument for Felix outside the W-L and SO stat is that Felix had to face a lot more harder lineups than Greinke did on a consistent basis. Felix faced the Yankees, Rangers (x6), Angles (x4), Boston as well as a few other high powered offenses.

Now Felix had a five game win steak to start the season but he recorded and eight game win steak from June 10th-July22nd. Something Greinke didn't come close to.

Felix also averaged a solid seven innings per game, higher than Greinke.

Did they get it right?

Yes but there were more votes that should have gone to Felix than Greinke.

National League:

Tim Lincecum: 15-7, 2.48 ERA, 261 SO, 1.05 WHIP, 4 CG, 225 IP, 10 K/9 and 3 B/9.

The reigning NL Cy Young award winner was back at it again this season and continued his path of greatness. Lincecum didn't have a long win streak like Felix and Greinke did but he completely dominated every single hitter in the National League and earned another AS appearance.

This time he actually made it to the game without getting sick.

Lincecum averaged just over seen innings per game.

Adam Wainwright: 19-8, 2.63 ERA, 212 SO, 1.21 WHIP, 1 CG, 233 IP, 8 K/9 and 2 B/9.

Wainwright had the Felix Hernandez dilemma. A great pitcher that got the wins an ERA along with other stats but the other pitcher was just completely dominant. Wainwright also had a seven game win streak from August 8th-September 4th.

Wainwright averaged just under seven innings per game with 6.8.

Did they get it right? No doubt about it.

Thoughts?

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Tim Lincecum Again Living the High Life, Wins Another Cy Young

Andrew Nuschler — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:21:17 -0500

For the second consecutive year, San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has been named the National League Cy Young Award winner following one of the closest races ever.

Phew...

When I was asked in advance to write an affirmative reaction piece to the announcement, I knew it was going to be a tall order if someone other than the Freak took home the hardware.

Not only is the Franchise the best player on my favorite team, but he clearly deserved to repeat as the recipient of the Senior Circuit's highest pitching honor. Furthermore, I've been saying that since the last month of the season, and I looked at the race up, down, and sideways.

Finally, true conviction in Tiny Tim's merit set in when fellow Bleacher Report writer PJ Ross pointed out that no pitcher has ever won a Cy Young in either league while throwing fewer than 200 innings during a non-strike-shortened season.

The 2009 Major League Baseball campaign saw no strike—no stoppages of any kind—yet Lincecum's stiffest competition (St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter) failed to hit the 200 innings pitched barrier.

Needless to say, given the likelihood of a photo finish, that little nugget sealed the deal in my eyes.

Nevertheless, both Carpenter and the Redbirds' other ace, Adam Wainwright, had strong arguments for the award, so the matter was in substantial doubt.

In many other years, Wano's final line would've taken the trophy—win/loss record is a seriously flawed reflection of a pitcher's true filthiness, but an NL-leading 19 wins is still nothing at which to sneeze. Nor are his 233 innings pitched (also led the NL), 212 strikeouts, 2.63 earned run average, and 1.21 WHIP.

A lot of Wainwright supporters are righteously pissed at the moment, and who can blame them? Their guy had a good argument—as evidenced by the fact that he received the most first place votes of anyone.

Sadly, Tim Lincecum had a better argument.

Likewise, Carpenter had a phenomenal year while coming back from Tommy John surgery—something that earns him bonus points out the wazoo.

The crafty veteran pitches to contact, so his whiff total and rates can't match those belonging to his running mate and el Gigante. However, the 2005 NL Cy Young made up for those "deficiencies" with a stellar mark of 17-4 while leading the NL with a 2.24 earned run average and a 1.01 WHIP (second to Arizona Diamondback Dan Haren).

Additionally, neither Lincecum nor Wainwright can hope to match the control of the trio's elder statesman.

Ultimately, though, the defending and still reigning champ had Carp edged out, too. Lincecum had a small but obvious winning margin, so it would've taken every iota of restraint to pen a flattering piece had the voters blown it.

Thankfully, they did not.

For the second straight year, the voters wisely overlooked Lincecum's deficit in wins and instead focused on his overall dominance. In the process, the fireballer replaced this year's American League winner (Kansas City Royal Zack Greinke) as the player with the fewest wins ever to yank down a Cy Young.

The dominating right-hander blew the field away in punch-outs with 261 (23 more than his closest rival, Atlanta Brave Javier Vazquez), posted a microscopic 2.48 earned run average and 1.05 WHIP, led both Wainwright and Carpenter in opponents' batting average and slugging percentage, and did it all while being the unquestioned leader of the Giant staff that absolutely carried the organization to contention in 2009.

When you place all three bodies of work next to each other, the excellence is almost blinding. But adjusting for the glare, you can see Lincecum's shines just a little brighter.

All this in his second full year tossing to Big Leaguers.

That's right, folks—Tim Lincecum has pitched two full years in the Show, and he's been named the best pitcher in his league twice.

After making 24 starts in 2007, the franchise broke out in 2008 and won his first Cy Young while throwing in front of one of the worst teams in all of baseball. As an encore, one of the game's most electric arms went out and grabbed another Cy Young—this time while hurling in front of one of the worst offenses in the game.

Kinda makes you wonder what Tim Lincecum will do for a third act.

One thing's for sure: The Bay Area can't wait to see.

Apparently, neither can the rest of baseball.

**www.pva.org**

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Tim Lincecum Wins NL Cy Young Award: The Freak Does It Again

Adam Bernacchio — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:05:33 -0500

My preseason NL Cy Young pick: Cole Hamels

NL Cy Young Award winner: Tim Lincecum

For the second year in a row, San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has won the National League Cy Young award. Great, now I have to hear St. Louis Cardinal fans whine some more.

Is there a fanbase in sports that is more sensitive about their players winning awards than Cardinal fans? It’s overkill.

Lincecum received 100 points to beat out Cardinal pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright in a very close race. Carpenter received 94 votes and Wainwright received 90 points.

Just like with his fellow Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke, Lincecum’s win total didn’t reflect how good of a year he really had. Lincecum only had 15 wins, which tied him for fourth in the NL with seven other pitchers.

Lincecum, however, led the NL in strikeouts with 261, complete games with four, quality starts with 26, was second in ERA with 2.48, and was fourth in WHIP with 1.05.

Lincecum is off to an amazing start in his career. Do you realize that he has pitched just two full seasons in the majors and has won two Cy Young awards?

That is ridiculous.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head who has accomplished something like this would be Roger Clemens in '86-'87. Clemens started 15 games in '85 and then broke out in '86.

Lincecum becomes the first pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Young awards since Randy Johnson won four in a row from 1999-2002.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Tim Lincecum Wins NL Cy Young, Continues on Path to Baseball Greatness

PJ Ross — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:33:47 -0500

Tim Lincecum has joined an elite group of hurlers by capturing his second consecutive Cy Young award on Thursday.

The Giants had only one Cy Young to their credit (Mike McCormick, 1967) until 2007, and Timmy has brought home the trophy for two consecutive seasons and put himself at the forefront of the pitching world on the senior circuit.

The last time a pitcher won multiple Cy Young awards in a row was when Randy Johnson earned four straight from 1999-2002 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Zack Greinke took home the AL Cy Young with 16 wins, and now Lincecum won the NL honors with 15, the voters have sent a strong message that they are capable of looking past the meaningless win-loss records and instead vote based on numbers that actually make a difference.

I think this was a big year for Cy Young voting because of the well-cast votes by the BBWAA, which made a statement that they care about who was the most dominating on the mound, and not who was cast by the baseball figure-heads as the anointed winner.

As I wrote yesterday, the scenario played out just as I had suspected, and the two Cardinals' pitchers, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, split votes and helped Tim win the award.

Wainwright actually had 12 first-place votes to Lincecum's 11, but Timmy got the overall nod by 10 points over him and just seven points over the runner-up, Carpenter.

Overall, it was the third-closest Cy Young race in the last 40 years.

In my opinion, the major thing aside from splitting votes that held Carpenter back from winning the award was the fact that he didn't notch 200 innings pitched this season.

There has never been a starting pitcher (in a non-strike season) to win the Cy Young and have fewer than 200 innings pitched, and the fact that the voters acknowledged this was a huge step forward for the voting process.

But don't get me wrong: Lincecum won the award based on his dominating performance more so than Carpenter lost it for his lack of innings.

Timmy lowered his ERA from 2.62 in 2008 to 2.48 in 2009, and while doing so he held opposing hitters to a .206 batting average against.

He has led the league in strikeouts during both of his Cy Young campaigns and the youngster from the state of Washington is just starting to build his trophy case along the road of a lengthy career.

The 2009 season, although he won one less game than last year, was a huge improvement for Lincecum as a pitcher.

He walked 16 fewer hitters, showing that his game is still evolving, and even lowered his WHIP from a tiny 1.172 in 2008 to a minuscule 1.047 in 2009.

Perhaps a more telling statistic is that in 2008, he led the league in hits per nine innings with 7.2; this year, he brought that even lower, to 6.7 hits per nine innings.

Altogether, it was a brilliant season for Lincecum (and that's coming from a Dodgers fan).

Lincecum has the opportunity, at just 25 years old, to develop into one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game.

Consider that the great Sandy Koufax didn't win his first Cy Young until age 27, and Randy Johnson won his first at age 31, and it's easy to see why Lincecum has the chance to position himself with the greatest players of all-time by the time his career runs dry.

Those who contend that his herky-jerky and unconventional wind-up will shorten his career because of injury problems are flat out incorrect in that assumption.

In that regard, I really have to tip my cap to the Giants' organization for trusting his unorthodox motion and not forcing him to change his delivery.

My dad and I have discussed many times the fact that if the Seattle Mariners had not passed on their hometown talent in the amateur draft, they surely would have toyed with his delivery and screwed up his career trajectory.

Timmy is gifted with a rare talent that we can call a "rubber arm," and this guy could throw on two or three days rest, if necessary, and still be at the top of his game.

Back when he played high school ball, I can remember him pitching seven innings on a Monday and coming right back to throw seven more on Wednesday—and he would be more dominant in the second start.

It's a unique ability that he has, being able to throw so many pitches with little repercussions on his arm, and I think this is one of the main reasons that he is going to mount a storied career that lasts for a very long time.

It may seem ridiculously obvious that I am announcing that a man who just won two Cy Young awards will be one of the all-time greats before his career is over, but I am confident in saying that Tim Lincecum will be among the baseball gods at the conclusion of his run in the majors.

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Tim Lincecum Wins National League's Cy Young Award By Default

Cliff Eastham — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:15 -0500

ESPN has just announced that Tim Lincecum has become the first MLB repeat winner of the Cy Young Award since Randy Johnson won four in succession from 1999-2002.

Lincecum, in my opinion, won the award by default this season. I don't think the voters could choose between Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, both of the St. Louis Cardinals, so they chose Lincecum by default.

Carpenter led the league in ERA with a dazzling 2.24 and the best ERA+ at 183. He also had the best W/L PCT with .810 and the best whip of the three at 1.007.

Lincecum led the league for the second consecutive season in strikeouts with 261. He also led the league in complete games and shutouts.

Wainwright was the league leader in wins with 19. He also led in games started with 37, and innings pitched with 233.

The voting was as thin as ice, with Lincecum receiving 100 votes, Carpenter 94, and Wainwright 90. Wainwright received the most 1st place votes with 12.

Even though I believe Tim is the best starting pitcher on the planet, I do not feel he is worthy of the repeat honor. In fact, it seems incredulous that a man with 15 wins could win the award while leading the league in only one of the three "triple crown" categories.

Chris Carpenter should have won the award and although he was not "above and beyond" the others, I believe he did enough to win the award.

What are your thoughts?

Sources:

ESPN.com

Cliff Eastham is a B/R Featured Columnist for the Cincinnati Reds

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A Pair of Cards Might Help Tim Lincecum Win the NL Cy Young

PJ Ross — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:25:18 -0500

The National League Cy Young Award will be announced early Thursday afternoon, and there are a trio of pitchers with viable claims to the trophy.

Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Tim Lincecum are the front runners to win, but one of the main things to keep in mind as the results are announced is that it is rare to see two pitchers from the same team vying for the Cy Young.

For this reason, I see Carpenter and Wainwright splitting votes and weakening the chances of either to take home the honor.

Between the two Redbirds, I would personally give the nod to Carpenter over Wainwright, the main reason being that the St. Louis offense simply produced more runs, for whatever reason, behind Wainwright.

Consider this: Wainwright received 5.5 runs per start, while Carpenter got just 4.6 runs per start. That means Wainwright had virtually an entire run more of support per game throughout the season. This allowed him more margin for error on the mound.

That's not to say Wainwright was unimpressive, but rather just suggesting that Carpenter was that much more impressive.

However, I do think that no matter how the voting shakes out, it is going to reflect a schism between the two in shares of votes.

This voting debacle could and, in my opinion, will result in Lincecum catapulting past the duo and earning his second consecutive Cy Young award.

A knock against Lincecum's candidacy could be his 15 wins not stacking up with the 17 for Carpenter and 19 for Wainwright, but as Zack Greinke proved on Tuesday, wins are not all they're cracked up to be.

If you adjust records for wins lost and losses saved, Lincecum balances out more evenly with Carpenter and Wainwright.

Timmy's record goes to 18-8, while Carpenter's levels out at 19-7 and Wainwright's jumps to 22-10.

Examining the pitchers in more depth than just records, Lincecum still stacks up as a pitcher very much deserving of the Cy Young.

With that said, let's examine how I think the top five should look, and it's stacked with a powerful group of right-handers.

Tim Lincecum (15-7, 2.48 ERA)

"The Freak" led the league in strikeouts, complete games, and shutouts.

He also lowered his Cy Young-winning ERA from 2.62 in 2009 down to 2.48 in 2010.

Some might try to convince you that since Lincecum threw with the backing of a laughable San Francisco Giants offense, his performances were that much better than the pair of Cardinals pitchers.

That assumption would be correct in regards to Wainwright, but Timmy got the same runs per start (4.6) as Carpenter did for the Cardinals.

Chris Carpenter (17-4, 2.24 ERA)

Carpenter went 12-1 after the end of June and was virtually untouchable for the stretch run.

He led the league in ERA (2.24) and adjusted ERA-plus (183).

Carpenter would be the first starting pitcher ever to win the Cy Young without recording 200 innings during a non strike-shortened season.

When he took home the crown in 2005, he tossed 241.2 innings compared to 192.2 in 2009.

Now I'm not saying that his inning total is anything to scoff at, but it certainly raises questions as to the whether his complete body of work is up to par.

If he takes home the Cy Young, it would set a unique precedent for winners in the future.

Adam Wainwright (19-8, 2.63 ERA)

Wainwright led the league in innings pitched and wins, and he allowed two runs or fewer in 26 of his 34 starts.

Somewhat forgotten behind the spectacular season of Carpenter, Wainwright's talent must not be ignored.

Danny Haren (14-10, 3.14 ERA)

Haren was the early season favorite for the award before hitting some harder times in the second half of the season.

The right-hander led the league in walks, hits per inning pitched (1.003), and strikeout-to-walk ratio, with a ridiculous 5.87 (223 K/38 BB).

He got only 4.4 runs per start on a woeful Arizona Diamondbacks club, but one major knock on his resume are the 27 home runs he gave up in 33 starts.

Josh Johnson (15-5, 3.23)

Johnson had the second most wins lost (five) in the National League, and he recorded a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 3-to-1 (191 K/58 BB).

Based on raw ability, Johnson is right up there with the best of them, but he still has to more development to undergo before he has a serious claim to the Cy Young.

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Will Tim Lincecum Be the Same Pitcher in 2010?

Jesse Motiff — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:35:51 -0500

Tim Lincecum has taken the baseball world by storm over the past two-and-a-half seasons. Depending on who you ask, he is at or near the top when asked to name the best pitchers in the game.

Lincecum won the Cy Young Award in 2008, and he put himself in a position to win another in 2009 with an even better year. Regardless of the outcome of this year's ballot, he will face a landscape in 2010 that he has never before dealt with in his life.

Two weeks ago, he was pulled over for speeding. During the traffic stop, the police officer smelled marijuana. Lincecum complied with the officer's request to hand over the pot and a pipe.

He reached an agreement with prosecutors to drop the possession charges, but he will still pay a fine for speeding and possessing a marijuana pipe. The matter must still be approved by a judge but there should be no further legal issues involving Lincecum for this case.

This is also the winter that Lincecum becomes arbitration-eligible. To say he will be in line for a huge raise is a bit of an understatement. Winning back-to-back Cy Young Awards would only raise the already astronomical figure he's about to make.

With a substantial pay raise, Lincecum will go from being one of the most under-paid players in the game to a likely record first-year arbitration figure for a pitcher. Along with a hike in salary, expectations will now be entirely different for the 25-year-old ace of the Giants' staff.

Even with a lesser drug charge, Lincecum will still face a barrage of drug-related questions when he comes to Spring Training. Along with those questions will come even more questions about his new contract and the pressure that comes from signing such a deal.

Given that so much is happening to him this offseason, it is quite reasonable to wonder how Lincecum will handle all the attention and stress recently added to his life. Can Lincecum handle everything that he now faces, and will he be the same pitcher in 2010 that he has been since being called up by the Giants in 2007?

It's reasonable to think he can overcome this and remain the dominant pitcher he's become. He faced high expectations as the 10th overall pick in the 2006 amateur and sky-rocketed through the Giants' system. He also proved in 2009 that his Cy Young season in 2008 was no fluke.

Even with his past triumphs over adversity, there is still a big difference from the pressures of trying to get to the Majors and having to answer ongoing questions about drug use and living up to a new contract.

Lincecum would be wise to mimic the actions of another superstar that faced similar circumstances last year: Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez was able to block out all distractions from a new contract and a steroid scandal to have a great season despite missing the beginning of the season.

For all of his short-comings, Rodriguez was able to maintain a singular focus on the games he played and the result was becoming a World Champion for the first time.

Lincecum already ranks ahead of Rodriguez in any popularity contest, so the public should be very forgiving of his offseason transgressions. They will be less forgiving about any struggles he may encounter due to the new contract however.

Lincecum would be best served to have a press conference to address all his issues early on in spring training. He can then put the issues behind him and focus on winning a possible third Cy Young award.

Regardless of what you're feelings may be on Lincecum and his recent run in with the law, it was a stupid and unfortunate incident. However, it doesn't resonate on the same scale as the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal.

Tim Lincecum is as good of a pitcher as there is in baseball. He has proven time and again in his career that nothing can stop him once on the diamond. He'll need to focus like never before in order to remain at the top of his game. Giant fans should anticipate nothing different out of him than what they've seen in his first three years.

To read more by Jesse Motiff, click here.

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MLB Regular Season Awards: Chrome Bats and Pyrite Gloves Gotta Go

Andrew Nuschler — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:24:11 -0500

For those distracted by football and basketball, Major League Baseball is in the process of recognizing its outstanding players from the 2009 season. The biggies are still in the pipe, but those generally go to the right individual. At the very least, the final voting shows an appropriate depth of consideration and analysis even if the you don't agree with it.

Ultimately, a good faith effort is all anyone can reasonably demand during an entirely subjective exercise.

On the other hand, both the American League and National League Gold Gloves prove a disturbing absence of that similarly sincere effort to tab the right winner. Some of the gloves dipped in gold were so obvious it was impossible to blunder away their trophy. However, the really telling selections were Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins as the respective Gold Glovers from shortstop—the voters made the most egregious errors at arguably the most important defensive spot (catcher is the only other spot in the conversation).

Now, the Sliver Sluggers (given to the best offensive player at each position) have been revealed in both leagues and we're seeing an abandonment of common sense and due diligence once again.

For example, take the Senior Circuit's representative at third base, the Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman. While Zimmerman was unequivocally the best selection for the hot corner's Gold Glove, the Silver Slugger he got is a blatant example of the negligence plaguing both awards.

Compare the year accumulated by the Nats' third baseman with that put together by the San Francisco Giants' Pablo Sandoval:

Player	AB	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Zimmerman	610	110	37	3	33	106	72	119	0.292	0.364	0.525	0.888
Sandoval	572	79	44	5	25	90	52	83	0.330	0.387	0.556	0.943

Put Zimmerman's huge lead in runs-scored and the smaller-yet-substantial one in runs batted in to the side for a second because I'll get to them.

Without those two categories, Sandoval becomes the leader in everything except homeruns, at-bats, and walks. Furthermore, most of the leads are significant—seven extra doubles, two extra triples, 36 fewer whiffs, 38 points of batting average, 23 points of on-base percentage, 31 points of slugging percentage, and 55 points of on-base-plus-slugging percentage (although that's double-counting).

Based on that picture, the Little Panda's leads in OBP and slugging percentage mean he did a better job of getting on base and hitting for power. In other words, Zimmerman might have a lead in walks (20) and bombs (8) based on the raw numbers, but Sandoval actually had the better season as far as the skills—of which those categories are partial embodiments—are concerned.

But what about those runs scored and batted in? Surely an advantage of 31 in the former and 16 in the latter decide the matter in Ryan Zimmerman's favor, right?

Wrong.

Runs-scored and runs batted in are more functions of the team around you since the only way you can score yourself is via the round-tripper. If the National had a huge lead in homers, then the margins in runs and RBI would be relevant. Of course, Zimmerman only leads the Giant by eight and that accounts for half the RBI, but less than a third of the runs-scored (the more persuasive argument for Zimmerman). Consequently, it's tough to argue the huge lead in runs-scored and substantial one in RBI are accurate reflections of the individual prowess.

Especially given the disparity in offensive strength at work.

The Washington Nationals were horrendous in 2009, but not because of their bats. The squad's splinters ranked firmly in the middle of the NL pack. Conversely, the offensive impotence of los Gigantes has been well-established—ranking dead last or near the bottom across the board.

When you really look at the situation, it appears Ryan Zimmerman was named the best offensive third baseman in the National League because he had a stronger supporting cast.

The impression becomes indelible when you factor in one more thing—performance with ducks on the pond (i.e. runners on, not necessarily in scoring position):

Player	AB	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Sandoval	258	67	17	2	13	78	27	34	0.357	0.416	0.589	1.005
Zimmerman	313	93	15	2	16	89	35	58	0.268	0.337	0.482	0.819

Yep, I'd say advantages of almost 100 points in average and almost 200 points in OPS with runners on indicates it was simply a lack of opportunity that kept Pablo Sandoval from approaching Ryan Zimmerman's totals in runs and runs batted in.

Nothing else.

Nor was this terribly difficult to parse out for someone who pays close attention to Major League Baseball. So why did it get overlooked?

Not only that, this is only one of 18 such awards handed out. I'm sure there were other, equally egregious injustices handed out with silver plating.

My parents always told me that a job worth doing is a job worth doing right. The logical corollary is that if a job isn't done right, then it's not worth doing.

And that means Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers should've gone the way of the dodo many moons ago.

**www.pva.org**

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