Cy Young Trophy - AL

The possible AL Cy Young award winner for '06 season is a relative easy pick.

Here are some of the worthwhile candidates:

Name

Team

G

GS

W

L

SV

CG

SHO

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

K

ERA

WHIP

BAA

Johan Santana	MIN	34		34		19		6		0		1		0		233.2		186		79		72		24		47		245		2.77		1.00		.216
Roy Halladay	TOR	32		32		16		5		0		4		0		220.0		208		82		78		19		34		132		3.19		1.10		.251
C.C. Sabathia	CLE	28		28		12		11		0		6		2		192.2		182		83		69		17		44		172		3.22		1.17		.247
Mike Mussina	NYY	31		31		14		7		0		1		0		191.1		182		87		76		21		35		168		3.57		1.13		.245
Chien-Ming Wang	NYY	33		32		18		6		1		2		1		212.0		223		88		84		12		51		72		3.57		1.29		.274

Justin Verlander	DET	30		30		17		9		0		1		1		186.0		187		78		75		21		60		124		3.63		1.33		.266
Kenny Rogers	DET	32		32		17		6		0		0		0		198.1		184		88		80		23		58		97		3.63		1.22		.248
Jon Garland	CWS	32		31		17		7		0		1		1		203.0		241		109		104		25		41		108		4.61		1.39		.298

MIN: A average-built guy named, Johan Santana has been dominating AL hitters ever since he turned into a full-time starter in '03. He definitely has put up another great season by any standards. If he keeps pitching like this, this sensational27-yr young, left-hander is making a reservation at Cooperstown. Just 4,5 more seasons like what we've seen from Johan in the last 3 years ('04~'06), he should be tagged as the best pitching in the 21st century (at least from '01 onwards).

Year	Team	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	BAA
2000	MIN	30	5	2	3	0	0	0	86.0	102	64	62	11	54	64	6.49	1.81	.302
2001	MIN	15	4	1	0	0	0	0	43.2	50	25	23	6	16	28	4.74	1.51	.292
2002	MIN	27	14	8	6	1	0	0	108.1	84	41	36	7	49	137	2.99	1.23	.212
2003	MIN	45	18	12	3	0	0	0	158.1	127	56	54	17	47	169	3.07	1.10	.216
2004	MIN	34	34	20	6	0	1	1	228.0	156	70	66	24	54	265	2.61	0.92	.192
2005	MIN	33	33	16	7	0	3	2	231.2	180	77	74	22	45	238	2.87	0.97	.210
2006	MIN	34	34	19	6	0	1	0	233.2	186	79	72	24	47	245	2.77	1.00	.216
Career		218	142	78	31	1	5	3	1089.2	885	412	387	111	312	1146	3.20	1.10	.220

In '06, Santana was in his near-perfect form, pitching over 233 inn & has a impressive 2.77ERA & 1.10WHIP. Oppoing batters only manage to hit .220 against the Twin. To understand how dominating he is, just know that he stroke out 245 hitters and he doesn't give up any walks (47BBs over 34GS). Numbers like these make him a solid case to win the Cy Young. It's doubtful that there would be any critics out there with these stats Johan has pitched all season long.


TOR: 'o3 Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay has had a big comeback '06 season from '05 when his season was cut short because of a unfortunate injury from a comebacker that broke his leg. More unfortunately, his '06 season was ended earlier this month when his strained forearm gave up. Regardless of the couple of injuries in '06, Doc Halladay still managed to start 32gms & put out lines of 3.19ERA, 1.10WHIP, .251 opp. AVG over 220inn. His strikeout is way down this season, probably due to a change in his pitching style from a over-powering big righthander to a more control-focused plan (only 132Ks). Pitching for a team with high-expectation coming into the season, Roy won 16gms (50% of GS) for the Blue Jays.


NYY: Wang, ironically the best starter for the ~$200mil payroll NYY team in '06 has pitched at Cy Young candidate-level all season. He may have win 19gms for the AL East Champ with gravity-proven sinkers that hitters just can't figured out all season. Over 212inn pitched, hitters hit .274 against him, Chien-Ming has been effectively to get out of trouble at times with groudouts. His stats of 469 balls hit to the grounds & 3.05 ratio of groundball-flyball (both AL-leading) is what distinguishes him apart from other effective pitchers. Not a strikeout guy (72Ks only), but his sinking pitches that Issac Newton would much appreciate with his mid-90's fastballs are devastating to major-league hitters. Wang's 3.57ERA & 1.29WHIP are not eye-popping in the arena of Cy Young-worthy pitchers. His contribution to NYY in 33GS (tonight vs. BAL, hunting for 19th W) can't be ignored, nor discounted.

RK	PLAYER	TEAM	K/BB	K/9	#PIT	P/PA	P/IP	WPCT	AGS	GB	FB	G/F	RS	WHIP
1	Chien-Ming Wang	NYY	1.41	3.06	2971	3.41	14.0	.750	50.8	469	154	3.05	5.86	1.29
2	Jake Westbrook	Cle	1.91	4.54	3172	3.61	15.5	.583	47.7	437	146	2.99	6.74	1.45
3	Roy Halladay	Tor	3.88	5.40	3050	3.48	13.9	.762	56.4	399	167	2.39	6.01	1.10
4	Felix Hernandez	Sea	2.85	8.36	2983	3.76	16.2	.440	50.0	318	134	2.37	4.50	1.36
5	Erik Bedard	Bal	2.58	7.90	3199	3.91	16.7	.600	53.0	281	165	1.70	6.26	1.33

COWBOY UP's PICK: JOHAN SANTANA, MIN

In '05, voters selected Bartolon Colon over Santana for the award. Partly due to MIN not making the playoff and LAA, which Colon played for did. Santana could have, and maybe should have won the Cy Young in '05. It was close, but Colon had a good case of winning 21gms & helping his team to win AL West (Santana had 2.87ERA & .97WHIP in '05; Colon: .348ERA & 1.16WHIP; Johan had more dominating #'s, certainly). MIN will make the playoff this year (Colon is out for the season back in July this season), so more cred to Johan's backing.

2005 American League Cy Young Award

 Rk Name             Team Place Points Points Share|  W-L   IP  ERA   WHIP  SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
 1 Bartolo Colon     LAA   17    118    140  0.84 | 21-8  223  3.48  1.16 157  
 2 Mariano Rivera    NYY    8     68    140  0.49 |  7-4   78  1.38  0.87  80 43
 3 Johan Santana     MIN    3     51    140  0.36 | 16-7  232  2.87  0.97 238  
 4 Cliff Lee         CLE    0      8    140  0.06 | 18-5  202  3.79  1.22 143  
 5 Mark Buehrle      CHW    0      5    140  0.04 | 16-8  237  3.12  1.18 149  
 6 Jon Garland       CHW    0      1    140  0.01 | 18-10 221  3.50  1.17 115  
 6 Kevin Millwood    CLE    0      1    140  0.01 |  9-11 192  2.86  1.22 146  

With a name like Johan, he is a stand-out in the league (outstanding, to look at it another way) with his almost-magical pitching. How many hitters have talked about his deceptional change-up's & sliders, along with moving 94-mph fastballs. From what we have seen so far from Santana, it is just not fair to hitters. His AL-leading 9.44 K/9inn ratio is more than slightly higher than the next stud pitcher (Bonderman, DET, 8.59). His domination over hitters seperates him from other good pitchers. Cy Young means domination & memorable performance. The '04 Cy Young winner, Santana has showcased his pitching talent once again in '06. Surely, he's got lots left in the tank for many seasons to come.