Sabathia wins Cy Young

[DirtyKash]

Sabathia #1
Beckett #2.

[love_that_reefer]

The way it should be.

C.C. Sabathia claimed the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday, receiving 19 of the 28 first-place votes.
As it should have been. Sabathia came in second on eight of the remaining nine ballots. One writer obviously didn't take his or her responsibility seriously and left him off the ballot entirely. Josh Beckett, who pitched as well as Sabathia but did so in 40 fewer innings, finished second with eight first-place votes and 86 points, 33 back of Sabatahia. AL ERA leader John Lackey claimed the remaining first-place vote and ranked third with 36 points. Also receiving votes were Fausto Carmona (7 points), Erik Bedard (1), Roy Halladay (1), Johan Santana (1) and Justin Verlander (1).

[Porter]

I like Sabathia over Beckett in the regular season. But they really need to start having these awards (Cy and MVP) after the playoffs. Because Beckett in the Postseason was insanely good.

[love_that_reefer]

These are regular season awards. Beckett got his ring and I'm sure he's happy with that.

[Porter]

I know reefer. But its kinda frustrating sometimes. CC deserves it but I still prefer Beckett. Im shocked Dan Haren didn't receive any votes.

[Lance324]

C.C. deserved it over Beckett. It would be unfair to add the postseason in, because some players don't even make the playoffs. You can't slight a guy because his team didn't make it. Or you can't vote against a guy because he had a couple of good playoff starts when another guy didn't even make the playoffs.

[Porter]

Both guys made the playoffs. Both pitchers faced each other in the postseason. Why not? Most times I would agree with that arguement.

[Lance324]

You are right, in this instance they did both make it. But, if they start making the postseason count, then those issues sooner or later would happen. In this one particular case I would not have had a problem with the postseason counting, because the two guys in question were very, very close in the regular season and their postseason performances were on opposite ends of the spectrum. That's in this particular case, but I still don't want to see it start even this time because of all the scenarios that could end up happening. For instance, let's just say for a minute that this year Beckett did not make the playoffs, and C.C. did. C.C. totally flopped in the playoffs and Beckett didn't even make it? Do you penalize C.C. just because he made it and sucked even though Beckett didn't make it. That was just hypothetical of course, but that's just one situation and there are a bunch of others. I just don't want to see it started. Believe me, I would have like Beckett to get it, but not based on his postseason performance. I'm happier to see him with another ring, save the Cy Young for next year.

[Porter]

I think they had close enough years and similar situations where this could have made a difference. Its a rare case.

[Lance324]

It's a very, very rare case. I didn't realize just how close their stats were until I looked at them again today after my father asked me why I thought C.C. was more deserving. For some reason I thought C.C. had a bigger edge in ERA. The were insanely close, their WHIP was identical. After reviewing their stats today, I think the voting should have been closer than it was, if there ever was going to be a tie, this would have been the year. After reviewing their stats, I must say that I rescind my statement "C.C. was more deserving" Normally I think wins is an overrated stat for a pitchers effectiveness, but in this case both teams won the exact same number of games. It should have been the deciding factor.

[love_that_reefer]

Sabathia threw 40+ more innings than Beckett and didn't have the run support. Sabathia's K/BB ratio is just ridiculously good. The best man won hands down. Playoff numbers should never have anything to do with this award. Not all Cy Young contenders make it into the playoffs.