American League Cy Young Award Winner

Submitted by:  Dan

The postseason baseball awards will be announced after the conclusion of the World Series, but the selections have, for the most part, already been made.  LeRoy in the Afternoon will begin announcing its picks today and continue until the conclusion of the MLB Postseason.  All picks have been discussed, although not all are unanimous among the LeRoy Crew.  Readers should feel free to voice their opinions, anger, and frustration regarding the picks.  We will continue in the American League.

The Cy Young voting, like the MVP voting can be difficult to assess.  Cy Young is most well-known for winning 525 games in his amazing career.  The wins are a record, and no other pitcher has ever reached the 500-win plateau.  Some voters believe that the Cy Young Award should go to the pitcher with the most wins in the league.  However, voters are instructed to vote for the best pitcher in the league.  This isn't always the pitcher with the most wins, although some voters will refuse to vote against the winningest pitcher.  In my opinion, that should not be the case.  Any person who saw Phil Hughes pitch Game 2 of the ALCS know that his 18 wins are not indicative of his ability.

The only real way to discover the best pitcher in the league is to the real out the ones who aren't the best.  This pitcher could be a horse in his rotation, a strikeout artist, or a winner.  In the end though, only the best pitchers will be at the top.

Here are the pitchers who came on my radar for the CY Young Award:

27:  James Shields, Tampa Bay Rays:  Shields fanned 187 batters this season but he had a losing record on a winning team and a terrible ERA.
26:  John Lackey, Boston Red Sox:  Lackey pitched 215 innings for Boston and had a decent record but his ERA ruled him out.

25:  Mark Buerhle, Chicago White Sox:  Buerhle pitched 210.1 innings and had a respectable record but his ERA is too high.

24:  Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays:  Cecil had a good record but his ERA takes him out of contention.

23:  Phil Hughes, New York Yankees:  Hughes won 18 games but he had the best run support in the league and his ERA reflects that.  On any other team Hughes wouldn't even be in this conversation.

22:  Zach Greinke, Kansas City Royals:  Greinke pitched 220 innings but his ERA is too high and his record terrible.

21:  Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:  Santana won 17 games and pitched 222.2 innings with a 3.92 ERA.  Unfortunately, that won't cut it this year in the AL.

20:  Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays:  Garza won 15 games and had a 3.91 ERA.  Solid, but not good enough.

19:  Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles:  Guthrie pitched 209.1 innings and had a 3.83 ERA but his record takes him out of the discussion.

18:  Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians:  Carmona pitched 210.1 innings and had a 3.77 ERA but posted a losing record.

17:  Carl Pavano, Minnesota Twins:  Pavano won 17 games and pitched 221 innings with a 3.75 ERA.  That's good, but not Cy Young material.

16:  Ricky Romero, Toronto Blue Jays:  Romero posted a decent record and pitched 210 innings with a 3.73 ERA, but he just wasn't good enough.

15:  Colby Lewis, Texas Rangers:  Lewis pitched 201 innings ans fanned 196 batters with a 3.72 ERA but he had a losing record on a winning team.

14:  John Danks, Chicago White Sox:  Danks had a good record and pitched 213 innings with a 3.72 ERA, but that's just not good enough in the AL this year.

13:  Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins:  Liriano fanned 201 batters with a 3.62 ERA but his record was only so-so and he didn't get to 200 innings pitched.

12:  Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers:  Scherzer fanned 184 batters with a 3.50 ERA but his record was only so-so and he failed to reach 200 innings.

11:  Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers:  Verlander had 18 wins, pitched 224.1 innings and fanned 219 batters with a 3.37 ERA.  Good, but not good enough.

10:  C. J. Wilson, Texas Rangers:  Wilson had 15 wins and pitched 204 innings with a 3.35 ERA.  He's in the top ten, but he's clearly not the winner.

9:  Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox:  Lester won 19 games, pitched 208 innings and fanned 225 batters with a 3.25 ERA.  Good, but there were better pitchers than him this season.

8:  Gio Gonzalez, Oakland Athletics:  Gonzalez won 15 games and pitched 200.2 innings with a 3.23 ERA.  He was one reason Oakland's turnaround this year, but he isn't Cy Young material yet.

7:  Cliff Lee, Texas Rangers:  Lee pitched 212.1 innings with a 3.18 ERA but his record was only so-so.  He probably would have had a lot more consideration had he not pitched for the Seattle Mariners for four months this season.

6:  C. C. Sabathia, New York Yankees:  Sabathia had a league-leading 21 wins with 237.2 innings pitched and a 3.18 ERA.  The wins are watered down, as he gets the second-best run support in the AL (behind his teammate Phil Hughes) and they only account for about 20% of his team's victories.  Without the run support he wouldn't have pitched as many innings either.  Take that away and you don't have much left.

5:  Jerad Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:  Weaver pitched 224.1 innings and fanned 233 batters with a 3.01 ERA but his record was only so-so due to a lack of run support.

4:  Trevor Cahill, Oakland Athletics:  Cahill won 18 games with a 2.97 ERA but failed to reach 200 innings.

3:  David Price, Tampa Bay Rays:  Price won 19 games and pitched 208.2 innings with a 2.72 ERA but there are better candidates out there than him.

2:  Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox:  Buchholz won 17 games with a 2.33 ERA but he failed to reach 200 innings pitched.

And the 2010 American League Cy Young Award Winner is:

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners:  Hernandez only posted a so-so record, but he received horrible run support on a terrible team and still managed to post a winning record, which is essentially a miracle.  He also led the AL in ERA (2.27), games started (34), innings pitched (249.2), and was second in strikeouts with 232.