There’s been a lot of chatter about the selection of Miguel Cabrera as MVP over Mike Trout. Make no mistake, Trout is and will be the better player. In fact, if his first season is any indication, the dude may be the next Willie Mays or pre-injury Mickey Mantle. That’s solid company. Trout may not have won this year, but I get the feeling he’ll start winning in the years ahead.
What hasn’t gotten as much attention was the voting for the Cy Young award. David Price won in the American League and R.A. Dickey won in the National League. If the baseball writers got it wrong for the MVP, then they at least did a little better on the Cy Young award. Dickey was not the best pitcher in his league. Clayton Kershaw was. But Dickey logged an incredible number of innings – 233.2, more than Kershaw – and had peripherals close to what CC Sabathia did this year. He won partially on his back story and partially because writers love wins, but it is a defensible choice.
The same can be said for David Price in the AL. By most measures Price was the third best pitcher in the AL. Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez both had more innings (stat number 1 for a starter, as far as I’m concerned) and better overall numbers. They lost the award for the same reason Dickey won his: wins. Price had 20; they didn’t. As frustrating as that may be, David Price still put together a solid season.
Long ago I stopped caring about baseball’s awards, or the awards in any sport for that matter. Champions are fun to watch. MVPs are entertaining as well, but a heavy trophy without a ring just takes up a lot of space. Baseball’s awards are particularly frustrating because so many baseball writers are devout know-nothings when it comes to objective analysis. Sometimes they get it right, but most often by accident. Dickey and Price were defensible selections, but my guess is that their win totals pushed them over the top, not something more substantive.
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7 Responses to The Cy Young voting wasn’t so terrible
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TIQ IQ
OMG, you guys can’t write a sentence without mentioning the Cabrera/Trout “injustice”. An article about “pitching” still gets more mention of Trout than the pitchers. You remind me of the Saturday Nite Live skit about “death to America”….good morning…death to America….how is business? death to America…how are the wife and kids, death to America…ok, c’ya tomorrow, death to America.
Only you kids are like…Good morning, Trout is the true MVP…let’s go out and get a beer after work today, Trout is the true MVP…Did you see the new Harley Davidson?, Trout is the true MVP…Look at the tits on that chick…Trout is the true MVP….
Then you go to the trouble of writing a whole paragraph “disclaimer” about not really caring about awards (death to America) Do you actually believe that anyone believes you when you rant and rave endlessly about the Trout/Cabrera thing and then say you don’t care about it?
You think the difference between you young guys and the old guys who think RBIs are significant is the stats thing…it’s not. It’s the passion and fanaticism you Sabertronic guys put toward something that really is not that deep or significant. (it’s baseball)You take it so personally that Sabermetrics are not as widely accepted as they “should be”. And that is the real, true difference between 20 somethings and 50 somethings.
Stop whining and get over it. You guys make it sound like Cabrera stinks and got the MVP because he is someone’s nephew.
Get it through your head, Trout didn’t get “ripped off”. He just didn’t win.
Happy Thanksgiving, Trout is the true MVP….Merry Chistmas, Trout is the true MVP….Happy New Year, Trout is the true MVP…don’t eat too much turkey, Trout is the true MVP….I don’t really care anyway, Trout is the true MVP.
And it seems my comments here are confrontational, but its not meant to be…I’m just having a bit of fun. Sabermetrics are incredibly useful, you just can’t force people to accept them by telling them how old fashioned and stupid they are. When you are 50, you’ll be saying this to some 20 something guy too.
‘no-nothings’? Personally, I think that most writers prefer to know nothing…
Good catch. I’ll fix that. I re-read the post and it went right by me.
Price won because he had a lower ERA than the others, not because of wins. Dickey won because his season was historical for a knuckleballer.
Justin Verlander was robbed.
He led the league in IP and SO and was second in ERA only to Price by only 0.08 points.
He had a lower WHIP than Price.
He had three times as many complete games as Price.
He pitched 28 1/3 more innings than Price making only two more starts than Price, and walked only one more batter than Price in those 28 1/3 more IP.
He compiled a 5-0, 0.75 ERA in September.
He was the ace of the AL Champion while Price was the ace of a team who didn’t even win a wildcard slot.
I could give a @#$% if Price outdueled him in June. One game should not determine the AL Cy Young Award.
That’s the BBWAA for ya.
I´ll just say a couple of things:
1) Hawaii dave said it clear and neat. I totally agree with his comment.
2) It truly seems that Trout will become someday a very good, even a great player. But already saying he will be the next Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle is…well, guys…The rant about Trout, after just one season, “is the better player” when compared to Cabrera, is at least funny…let´s remember that Cabrera is not a rookie; I bet Trout would love to have Cabrera´s baseball career when he is 28-29 years old…
3) Cabrera deservedly won the MVP award. If there is any team in which the contribution of a player in September to help his team to make it to the postseason is considered a priority, those are the Yankees. And, come on, Cabrera totally outplayed Trout in September, the month in which outstanding players prove themselves…Trout´s September was simply good; Cabrera carried his team offensively to the postseason and won the Triple Crown…
4) In fifty years, Cabrera will be remembered for having won the Triple Crown…(especially if we have to wait some 45 years to get another Triple Crown winner)…Trout´s season, well, I think even the Angels´ fans already forgot it…the team couldn´t make it, and at the end of the day that is one of the main things that count…The season ends in October, not in September…
5) Maths and statistical analysis, being so valuable, help us understand reality but, thank God, THEY ARE NOT THE FULL REALITY…
GET OVER IT….