All the buzz around the American League Cy Young award has focused on Jered Weaver and Justin Verlander. Both are outstanding pitchers having incredible seasons. Verlander has a no-hitter and nearly threw a second. Weaver has a 1.78 ERA and has only given up 4 runs twice (without ever allowing more than 4).
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
No one, best I can tell, has raised an argument for James Shields. Why is he being left out of the discussion?
With last night’s effort, Shields has 8 CGs, 4 of which are shutouts. That is a better total than 25 TEAMS. That feat alone is worthy of Cy Young buzz, especially when it is accomplished under the tutelage of bullpen-matchup-master Joe Maddon.
Looking at the leaderboard, however, Shields CGs probably can’t overcome the statistical advantage Verlander and Weaver have in almost every relevant category. But those numbers weren’t achieved in a vacuum. Weaver pitches in the unbalanced AL West where he had the chance to make three starts against Oakland and four against Seattle (and two against the Dodgers). Verlander pitches in the AL Central where he made four starts against Chicago and Kansas City. Shields, however, pitches in the Beast where he made three starts against New York and two against Boston.
Looking deeper, the average run production of the 25 lineups faced by Jeff Weaver is 4.19 runs per game while Verlander and Shields are in a virtual tie facing lineups that average 4.345 and 4.354 runs per game respectively. Predictably, then, Weaver leads the other contenders in most statistical categories.
In the end, Shields will not, and perhaps should not, overcome either Weaver or Verlander for the Cy Young award. After all, the writers had their coup last year giving the award to a player on an underperforming team. It is doubtful such an event will happen twice in a row.
But Complete Game James deserves to be in the conversation. Right?
From what I can see Beckett has as much a claim to third place in the voting as Shields does…. but you’re right, he should be talked out. Needs more K’s probably.
talked “about”
I was surprised at Beckett’s totals on the leaderboards as well.
It seems like Sabathia should be in the conversation too. Beckett has been pretty luck this and in my eyes wouldn’t crack the top 5 (Verlander, Weaver, Sabathia, Shields, Hernandez). You can make an equally strong argument than Zorbist should be in the MVP race, but alas he doesn’t wear a Boston uniform.
Sabathia is the victim of a good offense though. When you think of him, you think that he has it easy because they hit so much. It isn’t fair to him but it is the way I think voters approach the CY.
As for the MVP, how bizarre is it that everyone is considering Boston players? If more than one player on a team could legitimately be in the MVP discussion, doesn’t that mean that neither is very valuable? They need to just change the award to the MOP like the NCAA Tournament did a few years ago. That is more honest.
i know it’s not an award where you just compare 5 pitchers, but since 5 pitchers have been brought up, i compared them. I use a simple formula(rank the players 1-5 in statistical categories and then add up the totals at the end. 1st place in each category gets 5 points, 2nd place gets 4 points and so on.). I also use the simple categories (wins, losses, complete games, shutouts, walks, K’s, ERA, whip and BAA) and have taken nothing else into consideration(division, run support, no-hitters).
Totals look like this:
Verlander-38
Weaver-30.5
Beckett-24.5
Shields-23
Sabathia-19
I’m not saying that’s how it should be done…but simple stats don’t lie.
you’re welcome Cy Young voters…i just made it a lot easier on you.
That seems to be more evidence that Shields at least deserves to be in the conversation.