AL Cy Young voting results
Posted by Andy on October 10, 2007
The votes are in, and here you have it:
1st 2nd 3rd Points Ballots
Sabathia 15 11 1 109 27
Beckett 8 10 3 73 21
Bedard 3 3 5 29 11
Carmona 3 2 6 27 11
Lackey 2 4 5 27 11
Santana 1 5 8 6
Wang 1 1 6 2
Verlander 1 1 4 2
Putz 2 2 2
Escobar 1 1 1
Kazmir 1 1 1
Halladay 1 1 1
There were 32 total ballots, so from the last column you can see what fraction of the ballots each player was named on. In a year like this, I don't think it's unusual not to have a single player named on all ballots.
If I had to guess, I would think that Beckett will do better in the actual voting, and may even win it. I think Carmona deserved more votes than he got here, and he'll also take votes away from Sabathia being from the same team.
By the way, I hope those of you who engaged in foolish name-calling now see that when it comes to voting, it doesn't really matter. Lots of candidates get stray votes in any free election, but only deserving candidates get a significant number of votes. That is the beauty of democracy.
Thanks to everyone who voted. Tune back in a few weeks when we can compare this voting to the real deal.
October 10th, 2007 at 7:52 am
The "real deal" had to be voted before any playoff games. I'd guess that Sabathia, Carmona, and Beckett benefited a little here from the later closing date.
Thanks for this opportunity! You do a great job in all aspects of running your portion of the blog.
October 10th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Thanks. I forgot to mention WHY I think Beckett will get more votes--simply because of the flashy win total.
October 10th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Right. The big 2-0.
Also, Wang is still a terrible pick in a democracy.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Not a single vote for Jose Valverde.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I have faith that the real voters will vote Sabathia #1. He had more strikeouts, a lower ERA, and he pitched four complete games to Beckett's one. He has been the much more impressive pitcher over the year.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I agree that Sabathia's been a better pitcher, but history shows that absolute win total, in a vacuum, is worth a lot in Cy Young voting. It's pretty rare for a pitcher to be the only one in his league with 20+ victories and not win the Cy Young.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
That seems like it would be a cool research project, if it's possible with this stat-searching thing. See how many pitchers have been the only 20+ game winner in the league and have won the Cy Young.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
i would hope valverde didnt get any votes! he pitches in the NL!!
October 11th, 2007 at 5:47 am
I will post the answer, #7, tomorrow (Friday.)
October 11th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
The first time it happened was 1982!
October 11th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
The opposite happened in 1973 in the NL.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Actually, the league's sole 20-game winner has come up short in Cy Young voting more often than I would have guessed.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I counted 13 times that there was only one 20-game winner on a Cy Young Award ballot. Seven times, that pitcher did not win the award (1973 NL, 1984 AL, 1984 NL, 1989 NL, 1997 NL, 2003 NL, 2004 NL). Three times that pitcher won the award, but deserved it anyway (1982 NL, 1996 NL, 1999 AL). Three times that pitcher won the award probably because of reaching that 20 win threshold (1993 AL, 1998 NL, 2005 AL). So the good news is, sportswriters are pretty smart. Only 3 out of 13 times has 20 wins helped to tip the balance.
Here's some of the data:
In 1973 the NL had only one 20 game winner, Ron Bryant with 24 wins, but he came in 3rd in the voting. Seaver won the voting, but only won 19 games - FIVE behind Bryant.
In 1982, Steve Carlton was the only NL 20 game winner (with 23). He had 4 wins more than the next guy, and Carlton won the award, deservedly.
In 1984 both leagues had a sole 20 game winner, Joaquin Andujar (NL) and Mike Boddicker (AL), each with 20 wins exactly. They each placed 4th in their respective voting. The NL award deservedly went to 16-1 Rick Sutcliffe; the AL award went to Willie Hernandez.
In 1989, the NL had only one 20 game winner, Mike Scott with 20 wins. Scott finished 2nd in the voting behind Mark Davis.
In 1993, Jack McDowell was the only AL 20 game winner, with 22 wins. He had 3 more wins than the next guy, and that probably clinched an otherwise close race.
In 1996 John Smoltz was the only NL 20 game winner, with 24 wins, which was 6 more than the next guy! Smoltz won the prize.
In 1997 Denny Neagle was the only NL 20 game winner, with 20 wins. Neagle came in third in the voting behind Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux.
In 1998 Tom Glavine was the only NL 20 game winner, with 20 wins. That 20th win might have tipped the balance.
In 1999 Pedro Martinez was the only AL 20 game winner, with 23 wins. With 5 more wins than the next guy, Martinez won the award, deservedly.
In 2003 Russ Ortiz was the only NL 20 game winner, with 21. Although he had 3 more wins than the next guys, he finished 4th in the voting. Eric Gagne won.
In 2004 Roy Oswalt was the only NL 20 game winner, with 20 wins. Oswalt placed 3rd behind Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson.
In 2005 Bartolo Colon was the only AL 20 game winner, with 21 wins. His win total probably tipped the balance to give him the award.
October 12th, 2007 at 4:32 am
As I wrote above, I was going to post the details on this in a new post today, but kingturtle went ahead and did it. For those curious, there's an easy way to find years with just one 20-game winner in one league. Go to Pitching Season Finder, set the team to AL (or NL), set Wins >= 20, and then sort by Years w/ players. Then, you can find all the years with just 1 player.
When I did the research for this and wrote my draft article last night (again, thanks Oliver,) I found that roughly half the time, the only guy who won 20 undeservedly won the CY, whereas the other half of the time he either deserved it and won, or didn't deserve it and didn't win. A couple times, a 20-game winner lost out to a reliever, interestingly.
October 12th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Shoot Andy, I didn't mean to steal your fire. I should have read deeper into this thread and more closely.
I love this blog. And I appreciate all your dedication and hard work.
October 12th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Cool posts, fellas. Though I think Doc Gooden should have won the NL CY Young in '84.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:22 am
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