Cy Young Award - And the winners are.....

I'm back with awards talk. This time, my hypothetical ballots for the AL and NL Cy Young Awards.

American League Cy Young Award

Nowhere Near My Ballot: Francisco Rodriguez RHP Angels
K-Rod had 62 saves this year, which has had some people saying he should win not only the Cy Young Award, but also the MVP. That is a joke. His 62 saves, while impressive, were more a result of opportunity (69 chances) than greatness. Don't get me wrong, I think Rodriguez is an excellent closer. But that doesn't mean I would vote for him for either of those awards. In fact, as far as closers go, there are at least 4 in the American League who I think had better seasons this year: Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria, Joe Nathan, and Jonathan Papelbon.

Third: Jon Lester LHP Boston
Lester followed up a year where he beat cancer and then the Rockies in the clinching game 4 of the World Series with a fantastic season where he established himself as a legitimate ace. Although only being counted on to be the third pitcher for the Red Sox this year, Lester emerged as a better pitcher than both Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka (despite Dice-K's W-L record). Other options that crossed my mind included Ervin Santana, John Danks, Matsuzaka, and Rivera, but Lester gets the nod here.

Second: Roy Halladay RHP Blue Jays
Halladay is consistently among the top pitchers in the major leagues, and yet he doesn't get the attention he seems to deserve. Outside of Johan Santana, I'm not sure if there is any other pitcher I would rather have on my team. A workhorse who sometimes eats innings at the expense of his ERA, Halladay had 246 innings pitched, which was over 20 more than any other pitcher in the league. Despite this, his 2.78 ERA was second in the league. In many years, 20-11 with a 2.78 ERA would be good enough to win the award, but not this year.

First: Cliff Lee LHP Indians
In my 2006 fantasy baseball draft, Lee was the first starting pitcher I drafted. After all, he was a 28 year old left handed pitcher coming off an 18-5 season. So what happened? Lee had an average 2006 and a bad 2007 before being sent back to the minors. Needless to say, there weren't exactly high hopes for Lee heading into this season, as the Indians hoped he could just help fill out the rotation led by CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. So then what happened? Sabathia struggled early before recovering and being traded, Carmona struggled for pretty much the whole season, and Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA, getting 27 percent of the Indians' wins on his way to being my pick for the 2008 AL Cy Young Award.

National League Cy Young Award

Third: Cole Hamels LHP Phillies
Much like in the AL, this is a two-horse race, which leaves a lot of possibilities for the third spot on the ballot. I decided on Hamels, who went 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA. He also had a quality 3.7 K/BB ratio and was second in the NL in innings pitched with 227.1. Other options here included Ryan Dempster, Chad Billingsley, Derek Lowe, Brandon Webb, and Sabathia.

Second: Johan Santana LHP Mets
Instead of first and second, the top two pitchers in the NL are more like 1a and 1b. But somebody has to finish first and somebody has to finish second. Santana led the league in innings pitched (234.1) and ERA (2.53). I still consider him the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, despite not quite being the best this year. Although the Mets didn't make the playoffs, it was not his fault, and I can't help but wonder how many more wins the Twins would have had if they hadn't traded him. Still, I thought he wasn't quite as good this year as my choice for number one.

First: Tim Lincecum RHP Giants
This has been simply an excellent year for Lincecum, despite the fact that the team he was on was pretty awful. He went 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA this year, getting 25 percent of the Giants' wins. On top of that, he led the National League in strikeouts with 265, a full 59 more than Santana, who finished second in that category. This was awfully close, but that was the biggest stat to tip the scales in Lincecum's favor, and it helps in my decision that Tim Lincecum should win the 2008 NL Cy Young Award.

That's it for the pitchers. Tomorrow, I'll give my thoughts on the NL MVP.