Upon the Cy Young

The award season in baseball is often hotly debated, with the debateable characteristics of what makes a player the"most valuable", or what makes a pitcher "Cy Young" material. This year, the award in the AL went to Angels starter Bartolo Colon.

Colon went 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA. His complete stats can be found HERE. When compared with someone like say Johan Santana one might assume that team wins and playoff contention determine the award, as Santana had the superior stats otherwise. I think that Colons wins down the stretch in a tight as a drum AL West give him the edge there. However, if you look to your left, I have proposed a second candidate who I think deserved the Award.

In Jayson Stark's article on ESPN.com, he raises the question of who should be the Cy. While he picks Santana, his stat regarding Mo jumped off the page for me:
"Rivera, the runner-up, had the best season of his career. And that's saying something. He
had his lowest ERA ever (1.38). He allowed his fewest baserunners ever (only 0.87 per inning). He had his best strikeout-walk ratio ever (4.44 whiffs per walk). He gave up one run all season on the road. And he gave up one
extra-base hit all year to the 120 hitters he faced with runners on base. Yep,
one. "

So if I can recap; THE MAN GAVE UP 1 RUN ON THE ROAD ALL YEAR!. The man went 7-4 with 43 saves, 80 Ks vs 50 hits and 18 walks. And people left him off the ballot. Alltogether? its far past the time when relievers are not considered for the Cy Young. This is not the MVP going to a DH. This is a pitcher who had more value to his team than any other pitcher had to theirs.

Now lets see if Clemens beats Dontrelle and Carpenter and we can write off the entire award this year.