SBNation and Purple Row - National League Cy Young

by Andrew T. Fisher on Nov 9, 2011 11:42 AM MST in Purple Row Awards

SBNation's staff vote brought no more clarity to the NL Cy Young Award vote.

Clayton Kershaw officially broke out in 2011. With a 21-5 record, 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts, the southpaw became the 38th pitcher in MLB history to win the pitching triple crown of wins, ERA and strikeouts, the 13th since 1945. He won a Gold Glove, led the National League in hits per nine innings (6.7) and WHIP (0.977) and ranked second in the league strikeout rate and innings pitched.

That reads comparably to Justin Verlander's accomplishments yesterday, but where Verlander won in a landslide and garnered MVP buzz, Kershaw is far from a lock to win the Cy Young Award in spite of his rankings. Why? Simply, those right behind him in the stats above weren't behind by far.

Roy Halladay posted exceptional numbers as well with a 19-6 record, 2.35 ERA and 220 strikeouts. Most importantly, he pitched at Citizens Bank Park, one of the league's best hitting parks, while Kershaw pitched at Dodgers Stadium, one of the best pitching parks. That resulted in a miniscule park-adjusted ERA+ victory for Halladay of 164 to 163 for Kershaw.

Sabermetrically, Halladay led the National League in both rWAR (7.4) and fWAR (8.2), with Kershaw ranking second in both categories. Doc's talent for limiting free passes game him a comfortable buffer in the FIP-based fWAR.

So what we have here is different ideas of measuring true dominant performance, and in this case, SBNation writers were pretty well split in half. Kershaw earned one more first place vote than Halladay, but an outlier of a 5th place vote for Kershaw allowed Doc to close the gap to tie Kershaw.

So your National League Cy Young winner is.....Clary Kershaday!

Num	Name	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Total
1	Clayton Kershaw	14	11	2	-	1	149
1	Roy Halladay	13	13	2	-	-	149
3	Cliff Lee	-	4	21	2	-	83
4	Ian Kennedy	-	-	3	14	6	43
5	Cole Hamels	1	-	-	7	8	29
6	Madison Bumgarner	-	-	-	2	3	7
7	Tim Lincecum	-	-	-	1	4	6
8	Matt Cain	-	-	-	1	3	5
9	Chris Carpenter	-	-	-	1	-	2
10	Johnny Cueto	-	-	-	-	1	1
11	Zach Greinke	-	-	-	-	1	1
12	Craig Kimbrel	-	-	-	-	1	1

If you aren't satisfied with a dual winner, take the jump to see who the Purple Row staff voted for.

In stark contrast to the SBNation vote, the Purple Row staff was nearly unanimous in their proclamation of this season's best pitcher, sticking to the WAR argument. I'll admit I was the lone vote for Kershaw. Beyond that, Purple Row agreed with the rest of the writers around the country that Cliff Lee was the obvious 3rd place pitcher, with Ian Kennedy finishing 4th for leading the league in wins and carrying Arizona to a surprise division championship.

2011 NL Cy Young	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Points
Roy Halladay	4	1	-	-	-	24
Clayton Kershaw	1	4	-	-	-	21
Cliff Lee	-	-	5	-	-	15
Ian Kennedy	-	-	-	3	1	7
Matt Cain	-	-	-	-	3	3
Cole Hamels	-	-	-	1	-	2
Chris Carpenter	-	-	-	1	-	2
Madison Bumgarner	-	-	-	-	1	1

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Comments

I would've voted for Raffy

Because he isn’t afraid to let it all hang out. Plus, he struck out a bunch and allowed very few passes.

102 days until Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training.
Self taught and falling in love with this game is very easy to do, you can never hate it, and that is something that not one person can take away from anybody. The love of baseball and OUR COLORADO ROCKIES.

by Roxman4ever on Nov 9, 2011 12:45 PM MST reply actions

aside from the nude scene, the same with Halladay

Except Doc was better at both in 4 times as many innings

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by Andrew T. Fisher on Nov 9, 2011 6:24 PM MST via mobile up reply actions