DODGERS The CY YOUNG Thread

espn jayson stark's cy young pick...

NATIONAL LEAGUE CY YOUNG
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers

You probably think this is a fun job, right? Getting paid to write baseball award columns? Well, here's where the fun ends and my worst nightmare arrives. I have two historic seasons to somehow compare -- Greinke's season-long brilliance versus Jake Arrieta's astonishing second half -- plus Clayton Kershaw's regularly scheduled insane dominance. I have only one award I'm allowed to hand out. And I'm stuck with a deadline that forces me to pick one of these men before they make their final start of the year in a race that's so close those final starts could change everything.

If this isn't a formula designed to allow me to set a new ESPN.com record for hate mail, I don't know what is. But since I'm not going to wimp out and pick co-winners, here we go. Face it; this is essentially a tie (with Kershaw just a hair behind on my scorecard). And if all we had to do was pick the best pitcher in the sport at this particular moment, I think even Greinke would vote for Arrieta. But the season didn't start Aug. 1, or June 21, or whatever date you think Arrieta morphed into Christy Mathewson. It started in April. And over this entire season, Greinke is the man with the slightly better ERA, adjusted ERA, WHIP and opponent OPS. Can we keep in mind that Greinke's 1.68 ERA would be the best since Greg Maddux's 1.63 masterpiece 20 years ago? That Greinke's 0.85 WHIP would be one of the five best in the live-ball era? That his ERA has never started with a "2" after any start all season? Just passing that along for everyone who thinks there's no way anyone but Arrieta should possibly win. Got it? Great. Now start typing those emails.

My Ballot:
1. Greinke
2. Arrieta
3. Kershaw
4. Jacob deGrom
5. Max Scherzer​

 

also from that same article lol :latos:

NL Cy Yuk:
Mat Latos, Miami Marlins/Los Angeles Dodgers

I'm not handing Mat Latos this much-uncoveted "honor" merely because he left that second "T" out of his first name. I'm not even handing it to him because of stats alone. Not that 4-10, with a 4.95 ERA, are the kind of picturesque numbers he's likely to frame over his kitchen table. No, Cy Yuks are about more than that. They're about epic underachievement. Or, as one NL scout put it, this is because "so much was expected of this guy -- and so little produced."

Two NL teams with big dreams traded for this man, thinking he might be some sort of answer. Both of them couldn't wait to move on in pretty much record time. And shockingly, that's something us Cy Yuk voters tend to notice. From the moment Latos coughed up seven runs in his first inning as a Marlin, he felt like a disaster waiting to happen. But at least he was resourceful enough to (A) get hit on the foot by a foul ball while sitting in the dugout so he could avoid pitching against his old team, the Reds, and (B) put together three decent starts in July that inspired the Dodgers to trade for him. Except that the Dodgers were so delighted with his work that, after five starts, a 6.56 ERA and some endearing grumbling about Don Mattingly's "quick hooks," they flat-out released him. It's funny, but for some reason, I have the feeling somebody will sign Latos this winter and rave about his "peripheral numbers" or something. But the Marlins and Dodgers could attest there was nothing real peripheral about him.

My Ballot:
1. Latos
2. Matt Garza
3. Kyle Lohse
4. Kyle Kendrick
5. those nine Phillies starters with ERAs of 5.84 or higher.​

 

and this lol

AL LEAST VALUABLE PLAYER
Hanley Ramirez, Boston Red Sox

So, on the day the Red Sox signed Hanley Ramirez to be their favorite new patroller of the Green Monster District, maybe you asked yourself: What could possibly go wrong? Oops! Ramirez then spent most of this summer demonstrating there was pretty much no limit to what could go wrong. They sent him out to play left field 82 times. Um, that went well.

According to Fangraphs, he wound up with a UZR/150 of minus-31.0 -- worst by any major league left fielder since Manny Ramirez racked up a minus-34.0 in 2006 on the same turf. And, as the Boston Globe's Alex Speier has documented, the Red Sox have gone 21-12 since they had the sense to ban this man from all future left-field adventures. Meanwhile, Hanley spent much of that time putting on a bunch of prodigious batting practice shows but was never available to pinch hit or DH, then got sent home (to "rehab") before the final road trip of the season. If that doesn't sum up the essence of "really, really not valuable," I'm not sure what does.

My Ballot:
1. Ramirez
2. Mariners catchers (currently hitting a fabulous .157/.203/.257)
3. Pablo Sandoval
4. Omar Infante
5. Michael Bourn​

 

class

Ken Gurnick ‏@kengurnick 1 hour ago
Kershaw said Greinke should win Cy Young -- "Best ERA, best WHIP."
3:37 PM - 4 Oct 2015​

 

• Zack Greinke of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his first NL ERA title to go along with the AL one he earned with Kansas City in 2009. Greinke's 1.66 ERA was the lowest by a qualifying pitcher since Greg Maddux's 1.63 for Atlanta in 1995 and the lowest for the Dodgers since Rube Marquard's 1.58 in 1916. Greinke ended teammate Clayton Kershaw's record streak of four straight big league ERA titles.

 

Greinke reflects on career season
by Daniel Starkand | Dodgers Nation — 1 hour ago



Going into the 2015 season Los Angeles Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was considered by many to be the Cy Young favorite as he has won it three of the last four years. But Kershaw got off to a slow start, and his teammate Zack Greinke came out of the gates blazing, putting himself in the Cy Young conversation.

Greinke made his last start of the season on Saturday, allowing one run on four hits in eight innings while striking out eight, giving him an even 200 punchouts on the season. While the total gave Greinke consecutive seasons with at least 200 strikeouts, it wasn’t something he’s focused on.

“This year I didn’t pay attention to strikeouts at all,” Greinke said. “In year’s past it would be a big deal, but I didn’t really pay attention to it this year. I just was trying to get outs, that’s all I really paid attention to.”

On the season Greinke finished 19-3 with an MLB-best 1.66 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. He also posted a 2.76 FIP and a career-high 225 ERA+. When asked about his career season, the 31 year old had a simple reason for it. “I probably made pitches better than any year before. I feel like the last three years have been pretty consistent. This year is probably a little better,” he said.

Saturday night’s 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres clinched home-field advantage for the Dodgers in the National League Division Series when they will take on the New York Mets. Greinke downplayed the importance of having home-field advantage, but believes it’s beneficial.

“I think it definitely helps. It’s not a deciding factor, but it definitely helps,” he said. With Kershaw likely starting Game 1 of the series, Greinke should get the ball in Game 2 and square off with Mets’ rookie Noah Syndergaard.