Cy Lame Duck

I bet your looking at the title of this blog, and going 'Huh?' I shall explain. This is both a combination of ideas, and an extremely corny play on words. A lame duck, as most of you probably already know, is according to www.dictionary.com "a person finishing a term of employment after a replacement has been chosen", usually a politician. The Cy in the title refers to the Cy Young award, which is given to the best pitcher in the American and National Leagues. Now what ties these ideas together is the play on words. Sigh Duck is a character from Pokemon, a children's card game from Japan. He was a little yellow duck that always had a headache, and therefore would sigh constantly. I was not into Pokemon as a child, but I saw the cartoon show a handful of times and for some reason Sigh Duck was always in it, and he cracked me up something fierce. But to further explain the title, I will have to go into more detail.

Today, we are going to discuss potential winners of the Cy Young award in 2010. The reason I combined the Cy Young award with the lame duck term is because neither Tim Lincecum of the S.F. Giants, nor the Kansas City Royals' Zach Greinke are going to repeat as Cy Young winners this year. So does everyone see why the title kind of makes sense? Good. Now why won't Lincecum or Greinke win? While neither pitcher has had a terrible year, there are just far too many other pitchers in both leagues that are outperforming these two.

Greinke will pitch over 200 innings, start at least 30 games, most likely keep his ERA under 4.00 and strikeout somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 batters this year. Unfortunately for Zach, the Royals, as we've mentioned in a previous blog, didn't have the power in the lineup to provide enough run support during his games. And to be honest, Zach just hasn't pitch that great this year. Lincecum has also run into occasional trouble, getting roughed up in several stretches throughout this season. However Tim still has a winning record, going 13-9 with a 3.69 ERA, and he will strikeout over 200 while throwing 200 innings. Quality stuff, but not nearly enough to compete for the Cy Young this year.

Who will unseat these gentleman this year? Let's start in the American League, where there are some great pitchers competing for the spotlight. 'King' Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners is leading the A.L. in both innings pitched (225.2), and ERA (2.39) but with an 11-11 record, there is little chance that he'll take the Cy Young when voting time comes. Felix can hardly be blamed by his offense not backing him up, but dems da breaks. Similarly, Jered Weaver of the Angels is having a great year, but 11-11 just doesn't cut it. There's Justin Verlander, who's 15-8, with a 3.53 ERA and 179Ks for Detroit. Not bad. L.A. Angel Ervin Santana is 16-9, but a 4.00 ERA is a little high. The Twins' Carl Pavano is 16-11 and has served as an ace for Minnesota. And there's the big teddy bear, C.C. Sabathia of the Yanks who is currently 19-6 with a 3.14 and 170Ks. All these men are extremely fine candidates.

There are some fellas mixed in that you wouldn't expect also. Take for instance C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers. In his first full season as a starting pitcher, C.J. has excelled, going 14-6 with a quality 3.25 ERA. He's kept pace with some of the best pitchers in the batter-happy American League. And while we are in the A.L. West, we have to discuss Trevor Cahill. In just his second season, the Oakland SP is 16-6 with a ridiculously low 2.61 ERA. While he doesn't strikeout a lot of guys, he manages to pitch to his strengths and that of the ballpark in order to pile up the wins. Cahill's rotation partner Gio Gonzalez has also been outstanding, going 14-8 with a 3.16 ERA, and we should mention he's won his last four games. And then there's David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays. In his first year as the true ace of the pitching staff, Price has shined, going 17-6 with a 2.87 ERA thus far. The guy can throw 98-mph and if anyone can give C.C. serious competition for the A.L. Cy Young this year, it's Price.

Of course two guys from Boston may have something to say about that. Jon Lester has won at least 15 games for the third year in a row to become the legitimate ace of the Red Sox's staff. His 2010 campaign has seen him pitch a 3.26 ERA to a 16-8 record, and he will strikeout another 200-plus hitters this year. Joining him atop the Boston rotation is Clay Bucholz, who for the first time in his career has a win total in the double digits. At just 25, Bucholz is having a career year, going 15-7 while tossing a minuscule 2.53 ERA. If Boston had not incurred so many injuries this year, these two guys might have been leading this team to the playoffs and potentially a World Series. But as it stands, Boston will most likely miss out on the post-season, and Lester and Bucholz might lose out on the Cy Young as a result.

If you thought the American League had all the great pitching, just check out the National League. There are plenty of veteran stars making strong runs for a Cy Young award. Roy 'Doc' Halladay is pitching his mind out in Philly, posting an 18-10 record with an outstanding 2.44 ERA and 201Ks. And to throw some extra stats into the mix, Roy has also thrown 8 complete games, one of which was a perfect game. However, Adam Wainwright is matching Roy almost step for step. While Wainwright can't claim a perfect game, he has an identical record so far, with an even better 2.38 ERA and has only 10 less strikeouts. Wainwright's fellow Cardinal, Chris Carpenter, is also having a fantastic year, going 15-6, and throwing a 3.09 ERA. Meanwhile, Tim Hudson of the Atlanta Braves has come back from injury with a bang, recording a line of 15-7 with a mere 2.41 ERA. He's had two rough outings in a row, but Hudson is still haven't a dynamite year. Do you see why this is being called the year of the pitcher?

But the talent storm doesn't stop there. Mat Latos of the San Diego Padres is leading all Major League pitchers with a 2.21 ERA, and posting a great 14-5 record to boot. There are more than a half-dozen other pitchers with a sub-3 ERA as well. They might not have the record to serious compete for the Cy Young, but we should mention them anyway. There's Josh Johnson of the Marlins (who unfortunately will sit out the rest of the season due to a back sprain), Brett 'Assault and Battery' Meyers of the Astros, Rookie of the Year candidate Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals, Roy Oswalt and his resurgence with the Phillies, Johan Santana (also out for the year with an injury) and R.A. Dickey of the Mets, and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. This is one of the best seasons of pitching in possibly a decade or more. And I haven't even mentioned Ubaldo Jimenez. Ok, that's not true, I've mentioned him a lot this year in other blogs. But the man is still probably the leading candidate for the Cy Young. Even though he's only gone 3-5 since the All-Star break, Ubaldo is still 18-6 with a 2.75 ERA and 186 strikeouts. He's also thrown the first no-hitter in Colorado Rockies' history and set a club-record in wins. This is pretty incredible year for Ubaldo, and all of these other talented starters.

So who will take home the hardware when all is said and done? While I usually don't make picks this early, you'll notice I kept my opinions quiet when it came to MVPs, but I will actually make a prediction for Cy Young. Why now, and not then. Well for starters, we are slightly closer to the end of the season. And additionally, starters play once every five or six days, whereas position players play everyday. Therefore, there is a much larger chance for a MVP candidate to falter or have a fantastic week and throw off a prediction immensely. A bad week for a pitcher usually means one bad start, and even a horrendous outing won't impede a pitcher's stats quite as much. So I feel safe in making predictions. Maybe later in the season, or even during the post-season I'll make a final MVP call. But right now, I'll put my proverbial money where my physical mouth is. The A.L. Cy Young winner will be, David Price. The N.L. Cy Young winner will be, Roy Halladay. Could I be wrong? Most definitely. You'll just have to keep watching, and reading, to find out.