Exit Poll: The NL Cy Young Referendum
TOWER GROVE — One of the most intriguing and up-for-grabs awards this side of the National League MVP award is the league’s Cy Young award. It could be viewed as a referendum on what voters value.
Want change? Well, you might get a sea change from those standard triple-crown stats that have been such handy guides to a Cy Young-worthy pitcher. Wins just won’t do it this year.
Even ERA (gasp!) might not reveal the most worthy pitcher.
The first day of the BBWAA awards was Monday, and Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria swept the American League vote, receiving all 28 first-place ballots, and Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto taking 31 of the 32 first-place votes in his league. (Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto got the other first-place vote.)
Cy Young contender Brad Lidge, the Phillies closer, celebrates a title at the end of his perfect season.
I had a NL Cy Young award vote this season, so the rules limit me from revealing my vote or anything about it until Tuesday’s announcement. That said, it is a remarkable slate of candidates, and your selection says a lot about how you define “best”, as in the league’s best pitcher.
There’s Brandon Webb, who edged St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter a couple years ago for the Cy Young, led the league with 22 wins. There’s Johan Santana, who finished strong to take the league ERA title at the wire while also leading the league with 234 1/3 innings. Want a dash of MVP with your Cy Young, well, there’s the obvious half-season sensation CC Sabathia, who had three shutouts and went 11-2 after a trade to Milwaukee. Or there’s Ryan Dempster, who helped the Cubs to a division title with his funky hand twitch and switch from closer to 17-6 starter.
Prefer power? Slender ace Tim Lincecum led the majors with 265 strikeouts.
Prefer well-rounded? October star Cole Hamels had 10 no decisions cut into his 14-10 record of the spotlight stats, but he ranked in the top five of nine pitching categories.
Prefer dominance? Cannot ignore Brad Lidge’s 41-for-41 ownership of the ninth inning.
These are the statistics and descriptions that I considered as I wrestled with and researched by vote this season. I’m eager to see how it fit with the other 31 voters in the league. And, sure, I’ll share, but only after you’ve had your say below and the official vote is revealed Tuesday afternoon.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I’m old school and that means you can’t earn a season long award for a half season, no matter how great the half season. Therefore, my vote goes to a pitcher that competed well over the entire season and demonstrated a good combination of low ERA over a large number of innings. Strikeouts count but are not a key consideration - remember John Tudor? Wins count but are secondary to the low ERA and 200+ innings requirements. My vote for the Cy Young award goes to Tim Lincecum.
The last time a pitcher who started the year in Cleveland won the NL Cy Young was 1984 when Rick Sutcliffe went 16-1 in the NL after a trade. So Sabathia winning it would not be unprecedented. But it’s hard to argue against Lincecum, Webb, or Santana.
Ok, DG, I took San Francisco’s ace Tim Lincecum. He was not just a horse, but a stallion all year. The weight of those 265 innings pitched when most starters struggle to get to 200 along with an exellent ERA and an excellent plus wins to loss ratio while playing for a non contending team was so impressing to me that it made the choice quite easy. Brad Lidge was good, but I’ll take the work load of a great starter over that of a shut down closing reliever in any year. Brandon Webb deserves special mention as my 3rd pick. When I looked at Sabathia’s work it was impressive, but his limited time in the national league pretty much made me turn my back on him. Also, his stats were not that impressive in the first half for the Indians. The more I looked at the rest of the pack the more I became convinced that Lincecum was hands down the guy. He reminds me of a young Steve Carlton when Carlton played for those pitiful Phillies teams in the early 70’s.
I voted for Webb…a mistake. Living out here in the Bay, having watch TL pitch his home debut and three other games, listening to the opposing batters talk about swinging and missing…this kid’s going to be good for a while.
DG…I recant…TL for the CY in ‘08.
Lincecum received my vote, but…
I gave Lidge some serious consideration when voting for this pole, however. After watching the Cards crumble due the fact that they blew 30 something saves it reminded me how hard and how valuable a reliable closer is. They don’t get any better than Lidge.
Sabathia, likewise, was tough to argue with. He put his team on his back and pitched the Brewers into playoffs.
One concern I’ve heard about Lincecum is that he has really awful mechanics. Can he suststain the dominance he showed this year over the course of his career without injuries setting in? We’ve seen pitchers with excellent stuff, never reach their full potential, due to injuries resulting in poor mechanics.
To suggest that tim lincecum has really bad mechanics is like saying vlademere guerrero has poor pitch selection. while on the surface it may seem different i suggest reading the SI issue of 7-7-08 to get experts opinions on his unorthodox delivery (not bad mechanics)
The vote is in, the winner is public: Tim Lincecum. The poll is 3-for-3. The top three vote getters were:
1. Lincecum
2. Webb
3. Santana
The entire vote is available here: http://www.baseballwriters.org/awards/2008/2008_NL_cy.html
dg
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