And the awards continue...
For all of my complaining in recent years about how the baseball writers ignore even the most basic of stats (ERA, WHIP) in favor of Win/Loss records and team standings, I think they got it right this year with Zack Greinke's Cy. It's not like I made up the bias out of thin air; I'm pretty sure the 2005 voting jaded me on these awards. Bartolo Colon's 21 wins overshadowed both Johan Santana's (who placed third!) and Mariano Rivera's seasons, despite Colon's deficit in all other categories.
But this year was something different. Greinke won the SB Nation voting by a landslide, but I figured that was a blogger thing, and we haven't yet bridged the gap to the baseball world. I was wrong.
Zack Greinke was voted the Cy Young award winner yesterday by a similar landslide; and he did it all with a W/L record of 16/8, on a very (VERY) bad team. Maybe that's why the sixteen wins were so impressive? But more importantly, he beat out a pitcher with 19 wins. Would it have been the same vote had Felix managed to secure the magic 20th win? I'd like to think so, but again, see 2005.
Today's awards will be the Managers of the Year. I've already written in Scioscia; adversity and all that jazz. But as many have pointed out, how hard is it to win the AL West, really? Jim Tracy should take the NL. And the people who probably care most about this award are the ones who think managers make a significant difference overall in the season. [Update] Both Scioscia and Tracy have won their respective awards.
So, are we seeing a shift in the way baseball pitchers are evaulated in MLB itself? And what are the qualities of a winning manager?
Today's award results will be announced in about an hour. Let's pretend that Bailey wins the ROY again!
