Felix Hernandez Finishes Second in Cy Young Voting, But Here's Why He Should Have Won
To the surprise of few, Kansas City Royal Zach Greinke won the 2009 American League Cy Young Award by a significant margin over runner-up Felix Hernandez of the Mariners.
"Hey, Greinke, you weren't the only ace whose team couldn't hit a lick."
There's no doubting Greinke laid a strong claim to the award, leading the league in earned run average and finishing second in strikeouts--both categories in which Hernandez was hot on his heels. But while winning isn't everything, it should count for something, and Hernandez easily bested Greinke in victories (19 to 16) and winning percentage.
Common logic has it that Greinke's historically low win total should be discounted because he played for an offensively anemic team. That's true: he did. The Royals finished second-to-last in the AL in both runs scored and team batting average. But there was one team that was worse in both of those categories as well as several others: The Seattle Mariners.
Greinke had a masterful year, posting arguably the most dominant month by a pitcher in baseball history, going 5-0 in April with a 0.50 ERA. But after an 8-1 start through the end of May, Greinke's record (if not his other numbers) was a pedestrian 8-7, whereas Hernandez only got stronger as the year grew longer--closing with a seven-game winning streak while backed by a shittier offensive team (that, miraculously, finished with a record far superior to the Royals').
If you want to make the case for Greinke, there's a strong one to be made. But cut it out with the "crappy run support" argument, because Felix had it just as tough.
14 comment(s)
Damon says:
I haven't looked, but the better measure would be run support in their respective starts, not the teams' scoring overall. But I'm pretty sure Greinke clearly beat Felix in team-independent stats; for example, Felix's ERA got a big (downward) boost from a pretty spectacular M's defense, whereas KC's defense wasn't very good.
As much as it would've been fun to see Felix win, and as much as Felix might have finished the year as the game's dominant pitcher, Greinke had a better season overall.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:22PM
Seely says:
I'm not stat-averse, but I think there's a level of stat-geekery -- and this is it -- where you can argue your way in or out of giving this award to just about anybody.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:26PM
sem says:
Game 7 of the WS: Who do you give the ball to - Greinke or Felix?
I give it to Felix - he learned how to win this year.
I think Greinke won it over Felix because of 2 reasons: (1) Greinke's great start and (2) Wak had to show some tough love - so many reported about it, that it made Felix seem like an underperformer. He WAS an underperformer for his abilities. Now, Felix is one of the elite pitchers in the game.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:29PM
Keegan says:
Greinke deserved the award for a variety of reasons--most of which were covered either in your post or in Damon's comments. That said, the voting should have been a helluva a lot closer. Felix only got two first place votes. That's east coast bias at its worst. If Felix plays on a non-west coast team, it's a toss-up which pitcher takes home the cy.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:37PM
JB says:
East Coast bias, Keegan? Do you know where the Royals play? you're an idiot, get a map!!!
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:49PM
Seely says:
Keegan's point, I believe, is that games that start in the Central Time Zone are far more likely to be taken in than games that start on the West Coast. East Coast bias is not a term meant to favor teams on the East Coast, but rather teams that East Coast writers are able to watch before nappy time.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:51PM
JB says:
that's bull, NO ONE watches the Royals - but I beleive still that it should've been much closer - but East Coast bias is an excuse - I guess Lincecum won't get a CY Young ever since he's in SF - oh,he did win last year!!!
I think it might be a prejudicial choice since Felix is Latino...there, I said it!
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 12:57PM
geo says:
"I haven't looked, but the better measure would be run support in their respective starts, not the teams' scoring overall."
Damon, you're absolutely correct...and Felix had almost one run per game better support than Greinke. Here are the stats:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/sort/runSupportAvg/type/expanded-2/order/false/minip/160
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 1:22PM
Keegan says:
Seattle games/teams/players rarely get any coverage nationally because their games start when most of the country is going to bed. San Fran and LA are exceptions because so many major media outlets are based in those cities. These are the people who vote for the award!
I agree, no one watches royals games, but their location in the central time zone helps get players like Greinke (much deserved) coverage.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 2:22PM
JB says:
what I;m saying is that you have to think who is voting for the players, the baseball writers who are not all in the East Coast. There are a lot of writers from the West who can watch Mariner games when Felix pitches. I think it's false to say about East coast bias...almost as lame as the Huskies and their incredible win vs USC - that got them a bowl bid for sure...
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 2:39PM
Don Ward says:
Felix was the ace for a team that was - mathematically at least - still in a playoff race into August. This is despite the squad's anemic offense.
It would have been nice to have another Cy Young award to go alongside that from the Big Unit. But this slight might be a benefit to Mariners fans. King Felix can use this snub to come back even more hungry next season.
Getting no respect doesn't just work for Rodney Dangerfield.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 4:10PM
Pete Andrijeski says:
As much as I love Felix, I think it's fairly clear that Greinke deserved the award. The primary reason is that he allowed fewer runs -- that's the job of a pitcher. And even if the run totals of the teams were similar, Felix pitched half his games in a pitchers park, where it was easier for both him and the opposing pitcher to keep runs down. Greinke pitched in a hitters park, so the low run support meant he faced even more of a challenge vis-a-vis the competition.
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 @ 11:38AM
David Orozco says:
Here is my Venezuelan point view http://notilogia.com/wtf-why-didnt-felix-hernandez-win-the-cy-young/
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 @ 1:50PM
Steve Austin says:
I really think Felix did not win because a well known enemy: discrimination. I have read a lot of arguments but lets look the numbers. This is not a question of who could be the best pitcher or who has the major potencial because Zach has very high scores on both. Do you remember why Johan Santana did not win in two of his best seasons in ML? even when minesota relievers blew up at least 9 games and Johan could have won 23 or 25 games, the reason was numbers. Other players had betters number even thogh Santana was much better pitcher by far. Here is the same for me. Felix had better numbers than Zach so Felix deserves it.
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 @ 5:35PM