MLB Awards season is nearly upon us, so let the discussion (by that I mean arguing and the he said/she said non-sense) begin. Over the last few days Twitter has been the forum for a good discussion on the topic, myself included but mostly amongst the pros much more educated on the subject than myself. (Will Carroll-Baseball Prospectus, Drew Silva -NBC, Nick Scott-BrokenBatSingle.com and the P-D’s Derrick Goold) Most of this discussion was about what criteria should be used and how it should be used in deciding who the CY Young and MVP should go to. Pundits can argue back and forth about Wins vs. ERA, RBI vs. WAR what tells the better story and why their way of thinking is correct. Truthfully I fall somewhere in the middle on this. My issue, my complaint is this…why are they not just voting for the best…why are they voting for the 3rd best and in the case of the MVP the 10th best…seriously that dumbfounds me. All four major awards are going to be very close this year, which will inevitably lead heated talk this off-season. My advice to those of you with a vote, please, somehow find your way here and read this blog then make it simple…just vote for the best.
Let me make this clear first off, I am completely okay with Tim Lincecum winning the 2009 NL CY Young, but this is not HOF voting where multiple players can get in on one ballot. The CY Young and MVP awards are for the BEST PITCHER the BEST PLAYER we shouldn’t be looking at percentages or adding up points. Yes, there are going to be close races (2009 AL & NL MVP voting aside) and people will be upset that their choice didn’t make it but that is sports. For the CY Young there are 32 voters voting for 3 pitchers for the MVP there are 28 voters voting on 10 players. WHY! Was it really necessary for someone to cast a 10th place MVP vote for Ian Kinsler last year. Did Will Carroll really need to let us know he though Dan Haren was the 3rd best pitcher last year, what does this prove. Nothing I argue. I love Carpenter, but do you realize if he would have had one more 1st place and one more 3rd place vote we would had a tie or he might have won while having the fewest amount of 1st place votes. The idea that this scenario could have played out and is even a possibility is maddening to me.
It has only happened twice so maybe that is why it has gone largely unnoticed that this practice is unnecessary. But last year for the 2nd time the guy with the most 1st place votes didn’t win.(Trevor Hoffman 1998 was the other). So, “sorry Adam the majority of voters thought you were the best but you didn’t win”, is that how the conversation went. There will still be a 2nd and 3rd place most years and bonuses will still be given so calm down players. And voters you may have to re-think how you vote, but that’s okay most of you have been telling everyone else the same thing relating to Sabre metrics for a while now. Vasquez and Haren getting votes serves nothing because neither voter though either was good enough to win…so why vote for them. 32 & 28 voters one vote each, winner take all.
When was the last time you voted for President and they asked who would be your 2nd let alone 10th choice.(ignoring the Bush-Gore hiccup) Popular vote should be all that matters. This is one matter where a calculator should not be required, so please can we uncomplicate things.
2009 National League CY Young Voting (from MLB.com)
2009 National League CY Young Voting (from MLB.com)
Player, Club 1st 2nd 3rd Total Points
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco 11 12 9 100
Chris Carpenter, St. Louis 9 14 7 94
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis 12 5 15 90
Javier Vasquez, Atlanta - 1 - 3
Dan Haren, Arizona - - 1 1
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