Yet Another Ranking Of AL Cy Young Candiates: Who'll Be On Top Of This One?
Ah, the end of the year is coming. Do you know what that means? With a tight race Cy Young's this year I decided to interject my own opinion and give yet another point of view on this exciting race. So look through and see what you think. One man's winner could be only my number #10 pick, but that's what's fun about this ;3
10. C.J. Wilson
1 of 11
His 3.25 era has been dominate for 9th in the AL. His wins seem to be lacking at 14 considering his team. He's still a solid pick but his 81 walks are a bit high...
9. Carl Pavano
2 of 11
His wins have been high at 16 for 3rd in the AL, but the rest of his stats seem to be a bit lacking, but he's still a choice.
8. Francisco Liriano
3 of 11
He has a good era at 3.24 for 8th in the AL. His strikeouts have been top notch, getting 182 for 4th in the AL. With 42.9 VORP (tied for 5th) he makes a good choice despite his low amount of wins (13). However I think his wins and era are too low despite other nice stats.
.png?w=256)
7. Gio Gonzalez
4 of 11
Gio WHO!? I know that for most of you this pick will come as a surprise. Gio Gonzalez is not someone featured on many elite pitcher lists (if any at all). However that has been a mistake as Gio has been one of the most dominate pitchers in the AL this year. Gio sports an era of 3.16 which is good enough for 7th in the AL. He throws a decent amount of strikeouts though he can walk a few too many. What is amazing about Gio is the fact that his 42.9 VORP is good enough to tie him for 5th place in VORP. Being only 24 it's interesting to see him competing so well against the elite pitchers that are in their prime. Another amazing thing about Gio is that in his last 9 states they were all "quality" (By my subjective standards. :3) He's lowered his era from 3.75 to 3.16, pitching 2.33 in his last 10 starts. While this may not say much, due to his young age it could mean that Gio is on the rise and will finish out the year strong.
6. Clay Buchholz
5 of 11
He just moved to 2nd in the AL in ERA with 2.53 after being rocked up by the A's (Yes you heard right. The A's actually rocked a pitcher). He doesn't have many innings (though enough to qualify so it shouldn't really hurt him) and somewhat low strikeout numbers (not that, that is bad either). His era is nice and should carry him quite a bit. If he can lower it back to his pre-A's rock up, he'd look more desirable again.
5. C.C. Sabathia
6 of 11
19 wins. I'm pretty sure that's why he's going to get most votes, never-mind the fact that he plays for the Yankee's and their bloated offense. Despite my negative tone I must admit his 3.14 era (6th in AL) and 170 Strikeouts (8th) are nice, but they don't really lead to someone who should be the winner of the Cy Young award. He's great but not as great as the wins make him look out to be.
4. David Price
7 of 11
He's 4th in the AL in era with 2.87 and has a good amount of strikeouts at 163 for 10th. His 17 wins put him in 2nd place in the AL. He's good in many different ways, and his high stats show that he's been dominant. He's a good alternative to CC has he has a little bit wins but better era and only 7 less strikeouts. If Price had the Yankee's offense he'd probably have 19 wins too but with some better stats.
3. Jered Weaver
8 of 11
Want lots of strikeouts? Well here's your guy. He has an amazing 205 strikeouts good enough for 2nd in the AL only behind Felix and his 209. While he may be beat he has pitched 30 less innings than Felix has. That means his strikeout percentage is higher than Felix's showing he has strikeout prowess. He has a nice 3.06 era good for 5th in the AL and doesn't nearly have as many wins but if he were on a better team he'd probably end up winning much more than he does.
2. Trevor Cahill
9 of 11
I know some of you may be asking why I ranked Cahill so high but trust me he's good. His ERA is a nice 2.61. This is good enough for 3rd best in the AL. He is also 2nd best in WHIP in the AL only behind Cliff Lee who has fallen since his trade to Texas. He had a streak of 20 games in which he gave up 6 or less hits in tying Nolan Ryan for the record. In his last 9 games he's has not allowed a run in 4 of them and has an era of 1.61. He has a 16-6 win record which is a decent amount of wins to put him in 3rd in the AL with 4 games left to go. That doesn't even factor in the fact that he was injured in April and did no pitching then or the fact that he plays on the A's a team that can't hit their way out of a paper bag. Considering his win rate is .615, if he had those 5 games from April he'd be tied with CC with 19 wins. The money maker, he's plays for a team whose payroll is less than the payroll of CC's infield behind him.
The fact is Cahill is only 22 (the same age as a certain phenom who hurt himself) and has been able to pitch great baseball all year. At this age it's very impressive what he's been able to do. You may say he doesn't strikeout enough people or his BABIP is too low but I think in a way it adds more to the epicness of Cahill. Having an era so low yet only 97 strikeouts is an accomplishment to me. Just think how easier it is to keep the ERA down if you strikeout 50 more people.
Cahill has out-pitched many pitchers at his young age and you can't deny that he's having an amazing season, however as good as he's been, he's not the best this year.
1. Felix Hernandez
10 of 11
If you don't look at wins clearly King Felix is the winner. While he has a dismal 11 wins he leads in every other major statistic. ERA? Check. Strikeouts? Check. VORP? Check. WAR? Check. You have to ignore the wins and realize that the season that Felix is having is truly the best one this year. There have been many outstanding pitchers but through all of them Felix shines. He may not have the support of his lowly Mariner's team, but he does have my support for the AL Cy Young.
Your Thoughts?
11 of 11
Well now that you've seen my picks? What are yours? Please discuss with me the merits of my choices and such. I like debate and would love to see what the populace thinks.
Free cookies to anyone who can figure out what bias I have :D
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
