Jump to content
SportsWrath

NL CY Young- Webb, Volquez or the Freak?


fringe

Recommended Posts

i take it you're not considering lidge at all. a purist?

 

No, I just don't think Lidge had a great enough season to merit too much Cy young consideration. I like the guy, always have, and he had an amazing comeback season...but he didn't do anything too extraordinary for a closer. Every year there are guys with forty saves, an ERA a smidge under 2, and close to 100 Ks. Compared to, granted their AL, Papelbon and Nathan, Lidge's stats don't seem nearly as spectacular. The 1.95 ERA looks nice but the 1.23 WHIP for a closer isn't extraordinary enough. He got a well deserved Comeback Player of the Year award today though.

 

Santana, Webb, and Lincecum have all had amazing seasons. C'mon, Lincecum got 18 wins for a team that finished 2nd in the majors in RS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you left out the fact of zero blown saves. impressive considering all closers go thru a rough patch. the last one who had zero blowners won a cy, didnt he? (Gagne)

 

Yah, but Gagne, in 82.1 innings, had a 1.20 ERA that year with a 0.69 WHIP, 137 strikeouts, and 55/55 saves, plus he just broke the consecutive save record. Compare that to Lidge's 69.1 innings, 1.95 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 92 strikeouts, and 41/41 saves. Gagne had just become the first closer to get 50+ saves in back to back seasons and was breaking all sorts of records and bats.

 

I'm still a Lidge fan, and I'm not trying to take anything away from him, but those stats just don't match up.

 

And while Gagne's competition was similar to Lidge's for the Cy Young Award, Gagne had numerous other factors on his side.

2003:

Mark Prior 18-6, 2.43 ERA, 245 Ks, 211 IP

Jason Schmidt 17-5, 2.34, 208 Ks, 207 IP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think you just made my argument stronger. any of those 4 are worthy. i would argue more, but as you can see i have shed my baseball motif for the fall.

 

That's a shame. But what I'm saying is that despite similar SP statistics, Lidge's accomplishments fall far short of Gagne's who had a heap of history making on his side as well. Lidge in '03 wouldn't have won it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...