Thursday, September 30, 2010

CC vs. Felix for Cy

I’ve been hearing a lot on the radio about how King Felix with his 13-12 record in no pressure pitcher friendly Seattle deserves the Cy Young award over our Ace, CC Sabathia. Such proponents point to Felix’s league leading ERA, which is quite impressive at 2.27 and his league leading innings and strikeouts. They also note that when his team scores 4or more runs he has had a 9-1 record. (CC was 19-2 in those situations). Felix has had a very nice year but in the final analysis, I believe CC is deserving of another Cy for the following reasons:

1-Winning still is the name of the game
2-Pitchers pitch to situations – e.g., you are not going to be worried about giving up a few runs when your team has you ahead. Thus, you would expect CC’s ERA to be a little higher.
3-CC pitches ½ his games in hitter friendly Yankee stadium while Felix pitches ½ his games in one of the best pitcher’s parks in baseball. Felix was 5-8 with a 2.46 on the road this year. CC was 11-2 at home with a 3.00 ERA.
4-CC pitches in the toughest division in baseball, Felix arguably in the worst.
5-The less runs the Yanks score, the lower CC’s ERA –
0-2 Runs support – 3.60
3-5 runs support – 2.85
+6 runs support – 3.23
Proves point #2 above.
6- The less runs Seattle scores, the worse Felix pitches
0-2 runs support – 2.84
3-5 runs support – 2.05
6+ runs support – 0.76

The major difference between these 2 great pitchers is that CC is a winner and Felix still needs to learn how to win. Great pitchers pitch better when their team scores less runs to keep them in the game.

Conclusion: Felix may win Fantasy baseball pitcher of the year but CC should get Cy Young.

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