Not saying it's rigged but why do they bother letting the writers vote anymore? CC wasn't on 1 guys ballot and Beckett wasn't on 2 of them. It's a fuckin' joke. Besides playoffs should count....
So if a guy doesn't believe one or the other isn't worthy, it has to be rigged? And playoffs should not count. Should a guy like Santana never garner consideration, simply because the team around him sucks ass?
I thought Beckett was a much better pitcher this year, but I have disagreed many times in the past. Good for CCS. Great year, man!:beer:
There were only 2/3 logical choices correct? Then how do you explain that the 2 favorites get left off the ballot completely. There are no 3 pitchers better than Sabathia or Beckett in the AL, so that tells me that the writers are biased a-holes who should get their vote stripped away from them and let either front office people vote or just let the NL writers vote for AL awards and vice-versa to allow for a less biased vote since they just vote based on stats anyway. As for playoffs, it just gives more starts to the candidates and shows which pitcher is truly the best. Heck if the MVP usually goes to a playoff team's player why not the Cy Young too.
While I do agree that there wasn't much in the way of competition, I'm sure three guys could be put there. Wang could be put on the list (regardless of whether you think he deserved it, he was a candidate until his last couple starts.) So if you have two ballots that read: Sabathia Lackey Wang And one that reads: Beckett Lackey Wang Then there's your answer. That's not biased, that's people having a different POV. The Cy Young DID go to a playoff team's player. And no, playoff starts should not count. That's the way it is. It works the same exact way for the MVP award. They are both regular season awards.
The Cy Young usually goes to a playoff teams pitcher because the first stat they look at is Wins. A guy like Bedard should be a candidate but with 13 wins he's never going to get any consideration.
Beckett should have won, but I think he's fine with the ALCS MVP and a World Series title, along with the knowledge that Sabathia is a MAJOR reason the Indians lost. And I believe playoff starts should count. They're part of the 2007 season. Players who don't make it shouldn't have it held against them, but when a pitcher does what Beckett did they should get the boost. And when they suck as bad as Sabathia, they should suffer the hit.
So for argument's sake, let's say Sabathia pitched as well as Beckett in the first two rounds. Let's say that Beckett advances to the World Series because the Sox beat everyone but Sabathia. Does Beckett then have an unfair advantage in the voting? Of course he does. And you Sox fans would be pissed off if it worked the other way around. The fact is, it has always been, and always will be, a regular season award, just like the MVP. Sabathia deserved it. 3rd makes a good point though.
In cases like this, where they go head to head, I don't see how it makes sense not to count it. And again, if Sabathia pitched well in the playoffs, he wouldn't be penalized for what the team did. Just as if Beckett pitched like shit and the Sox still won it he shouldn't be rewarded.
i have to say as much as i dislike beckett and the red sox, i thought he was going to win. i dont know if sabathia deserves this, i think beckett had the better season.
I don't understand this argument. It's a regular season award. It's voted on before the playoffs. This is like saying that the World Series MVP should take the regular season into account.
Doesn't surprise me. I heard Ken Rosenthal talking about this back in September, when he was putting together his post season awards piece (although he didn't have a vote). He gave it to Sabathia on number of innings pitched, with all other stats being fairly equal. C.C. had 40 more innings than Beckett, and that was a pretty fair argument As devil said, I think Beckett's pretty comfortable where he ended up in 2007.
Because they have already voted before the playoffs start dude. how the hell do they know if the guys are gonna face eachother? Its a meaningless regular season award so gives two shits
My point is I don't think it SHOULD be a regular season award. Essentially it's the "Pitcher of the Year" Award, they just named it for a guy who has the all time wins record. My point is that the starts a pitcher makes in the playoffs are part of the 2007 (or whatever year) season.
But they never have been counted. Nor should they. It's a regular season award so that the ground is even for everyone. If Kazmir led the league in Ks, while winning 30 games, with an ERA of 1.05, would he be more deserving of the award than Beckett was this year, even if you did count in Beckett's performance? I think the answer is obviously yes. Postseason are just extra games. They should never count toward Cy Young or MVP awards.
Obviously in a case like that, Kazmir should win. But in a case like this, where the two are pretty much dead even and both are in the playoffs, let alone head to head, I think that playoff performance should be a factor.
I understand your POV, and I used to have the same one. I've changed my mind over time though. All sports have their MVP-type awards as regular season only. I think it's fair enough. (It only sucks and seems unfair when it's your player that doesn't win.)
