Lee. Perry scratches his name all over the place!
AL MVP — Cliff Lee, Indians
Before we get busy justifying this one, a few words on MVP criteria ... Some fans and voters get hung up on the inane idea that an MVP must come from a contending team. The ballot instructions specifically say that this isn’t the case, and common sense will tell you that, too. After all, dismissing the superior player because his team isn’t successful is, in essence, penalizing him because his teammates aren’t doing their jobs. The only objective stand is to give the MVP to, you know, the best player. Importing any other standard to the process is silly and illogical. Moving on ...
As you might surmise, Lee has been the best pitcher in the American League this season, and he’s also been the best overall player (thus far, it’s been a down year for individual offensive performances in the AL). Sure, position players are generally more valuable than pitchers, but on occasion that’s not the case. The 2008 season to date is just such an occasion. Consider Lee’s numbers: he’s got an RA (runs allowed per nine innings) of 1.01 (!), he’s struck out 39 against only two walks (!!), and he’s given up only one home run in 44.2 innings of work. Certainly, he’s not going to be able to keep runs off the board at such an amazing clip, but it’s quite possible that Lee’s long-awaited breakout season is upon us.
AL Cy Young — Cliff Lee, Indians
Obviously, Lee’s the choice here, for reasons stated above. Wins and losses are a terrible way to evaluate pitchers, but by any standard you’re having a dominant season when you’re on pace for more wins than runs allowed. That’s Lee in 2008.
Repoz
Posted: May 12, 2008 at 11:11 PM |
20 comment(s)
Related News:
General,
Awards
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
...indeed!
By the way, I noticed that Nelson Figueroa is the new name for Brian Lawrence, which was the new name for Dave Williams, which in turn was the new name for Jose Lima. I could've sworn Nelson was different, and better... I don't know, something to do with the fact that he could allow fewer hits on balls in play than Lima... sounded pretty convincing.
90 GS, 361 AB, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 30 BB, 47 K, 27 SB, 13 GIDP, .235/.307/.382 (.689 OPS)
Good move, Mr. Moorad. At this rate, we will all forget about the Russ Ortiz idiocy really really soon.
That post could yet prove "Bowa-worthy"
Basestealers are only 16 for 30 off Jason Kendall this season.
I think a dominating beginning by Cliff Lee would have been less shocking than that :P
Carmona is certainly due for a correction...But he only has 1 homerun!
Me too. I am wondering if MGL could let us know how many innings Lee has to throw at this kind of quality before the conclusion that something has genuinely changed can be safely reached. Surely, there has to be some number of innings at X level of performance that a slightly below or even average pitcher can't be expected to deliver.
He doesn't mention Soria, Ryan, Lidge, or Wagner either.
I don't think MGL is still calling him a below average pitcher.
I wasn't being snarky. I'm genuinely interested in the answer to the question I asked. I'll check out mgl's blog.
I think you should have been. If there's ever been someone who deserves snark, its MGL.
Seriously, a week or so ago, Rob Neyer comes out with a reasonable piece on why he believes Cliff Lee has changed. MGL absolutely blasts him for this, saying that Cliff Lee is a bad pitcher, that his start is nothing more than a fluke, that there's no reason to believe that Lee has changed, and that MGL's beliefs are based on "science" while Neyer's are based on nothing at all.
And somehow only two starts later (small sample size!) Lee is no longer a below average pitcher and is supposed to pitch better? What happened to the science?
This is where I think MGL went overboard. You want to say Cliff Lee is a mirage, fine, there's probably some data to back that up. To sit here and say that Neyer was just writing because his boss' told him to and hadn't ever looked at the data was a little uncalled for, especially in the tone he used.
Although, about 1 start a month he sends Scott Olsen out for 120+ pitches. For no appearent reason either, one game was 10-4, the other was 3-0. Olsen said that the 120 pitch start affected his next start, where he got shelled and never topped 90, so maybe Fredi should stop. Olsen's the one guy on that staff that is young with All-Star level talent, burning him out Joe Girardi style may not be the way to go.
A probation condition?
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main