Tim Lincecum wins the NL Cy Young Award for the second year in a row.
Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants was elected the National League Cy Young Award winner for the second consecutive year in balloting by the BBWAA. Lincecum had the lowest victory total over a full season of any starting pitcher who won the award in either league.
The previous low victory total for a Cy Young Award-winning starter in a season not affected by a strike was by Brandon Webb, who was 16-8 for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006. It was matched Tuesday by 2009 American League winner Zack Greinke, who was 16-8 for the Kansas City Royals.
It’s a fascinating vote. BBWAA members gave Adam Wainwright the most first place votes with twelve, but they either thought he was first or third, with only five writers voting him in second. He finished third. Most voters who cast a ballot for either Tim or Chris Carpenter thought they were either number one or number two, and that’s how they finished. It’s pretty clear there were voters who valued wins, and put Wainwright first, and those who didn’t put him third. Lincecum received 11 first place votes to Carpenter’s nine, and walked away with the award.
This is the advantage of a Borda count, a disagreement like this results in the consensus second choice winning. Credit this to the voting system, and enough writers understanding the value of ERA and strikeouts.
Update: On the point system, only 10 points separated first from third. It’s pretty clear there was no clear consensus among the voters on who should be Cy Young this season, but I think they got the ranking right. There was no love for Ubaldo Jimnenez, however, as Haren and Vazquez received the only votes not going to one of the top three.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:07 pm | Awards, Pitchers | Permalink | 3 Comments
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November 19th, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
The Freak is the youngest to win a 2nd Cy, right?
25, with 2 Cy’s….consecutive.
And this will forever be known as the year the voters finally started voting for the best pitching, not the best win total. Nice way to cap one of the better years baseball has seen
November 19th, 2009 @ 10:18 pm
On a side note, due to the sudden apparent enlightenment found by the voters to sabermetrics, I wonder what the lowest Cy-Young-winning win total could be?
If a team loses 100, 105, 110 games, but has another Zack Greinke type pitcher, who wins only 8 games say, does that get him the Cy Young now if he leads the lead in so many other categories?
November 20th, 2009 @ 3:34 am
There were 4 19-game winners, without 20-game winner. The real test would have been 20-game winner. 20-game winner would have certainly won in NL, and possibly even in AL.