RA Dickey wins NL Cy Young award

[Oliver]

Good for him!  He deserved it and I'm glad that the fact he played on a crap team didn't sway voters

[ucahogfan]

I will agree he deserved it among the 3 finalists, but he shouldn't have been the Cy Young winner in the NL.  The Cy Young has become a starter's award, but the best pitcher in the NL was a reliever.  Craig Kimbrel had the greatest season EVER by a closer.  He struck out more than half of the hitters that went to face him this year.  That has never been done before and probably will never be done again.

[bsking]

Yep.  Postseason awards rarely go to those who deserve them.

Kimbrel is a given and how did Dickey even deserve it over Kershaw?  Kershaw had a better ERA and WAR with nearly identical WHIP and K's.

Do wins trump ERA these days?  If so, that is really sad.  Wins are nothing but a by-product stat,  Shouldn't even be in a conversation when talking about how good a pitcher is.

[Oliver]

Yep.  Postseason awards rarely go to those who deserve them.

Kimbrel is a given and how did Dickey even deserve it over Kershaw?  Kershaw had a better ERA and WAR with nearly identical WHIP and K's.

Do wins trump ERA these days?  If so, that is really sad.  Wins are nothing but a by-product stat,  Shouldn't even be in a conversation when talking about how good a pitcher is.

Kershaw didn't have the worst offense in the NL behind him which very much affects a pitchers stats, and RA still put up similar stats. 

And I'm sorry that MLB pissed in your Cherrios and didn't recognize one of your relievers.  I mean they never do when it comes to the Cy Young award anymore, but since we are talking about a Braves player I have to think that this was a League Wide conspiracy

[JonClaudeVanHam]

Wooo!!!

[bsking]

Kershaw didn't have the worst offense in the NL behind him which very much affects a pitchers stats, and RA still put up similar stats. 

Please tell me how offense effects your ERA, WHIP, and Ks.  Do tell, this should be revolutionary.

[Oliver]

Please tell me how offense effects your ERA, WHIP, and Ks.  Do tell, this should be revolutionary.

Just general baseball knowledge will explain it but ask any pitcher if you'd like...

Do you pitch better over a full season with an offense behind you that you know can put up 4 to 5 runs on a given night or with an offense that's lucky to score 1 run on a given night?

Are you slightly more loose on the mound when you know you just made one mistake and gave up a solo HR to the other team and pretty much just lost the game for your team?  Or do you prefer having an offense that has your back and not having a *** puckered so tight trying to throw a perfect game everytime you take the mound?

Mental comfort affects performance.  Performance affects K's, WHIP, and ERA. 

Now do I need to teach you anything else about the game of baseball?

[bsking]

Tampa Bay Rays #12 AVG #1 ERA in AL
Oakland A's #13 AVG #2 ERA in AL
Seattle Mariners #14 AVG #4 ERA in AL

So the worst 3 hitting teams in the AL had 3 of the 4 best ERAs...  Well that seems like the exact OPPOSITE of what you claim.  Or are those questions you are actually asking yourself and not rhetorical?

So please, continue to teach me.

[bsking]

Oh and this is cute too.

RA Dickey's run support: 4.61 r/g
Clayton Kershaw's run support: 3.94 r/g

So since:

Mental comfort affects performance.  Performance affects K's, WHIP, and ERA. 

So since Kershaw had a better ERA and Whip and less "mental comfort" then you would have to agree that Kershaw was MUCH better than Dickey.

[Oliver]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1264456-10-mlb-pitchers-who-receive-the-most-run-support

Here's another article talking about it.  I never said that pitchers that have the best run support will be the best pitchers.  I also never said that you can't be a great pitcher or the best if you have zero run support. 

But RUN SUPPORT DOES FACTOR INTO PERFORMANCE.  Which you flat out denied. 

I think Kershaw is a great pitcher and I certainly wouldn't have been upset had he won.  But the majority of the Cy Young voters who know more than you (difficult to believe I know) or I, believe RA deserved it.

He's not enjoying it any less because you don't agree.  I usually like it more when you don't agree.  So I'll leave it at that.

[bsking]

You just supported yourself with an article from bleacher report.  If that isn't a sign of being wrong I don't know what is.

But RUN SUPPORT DOES FACTOR INTO PERFORMANCE.  Which you flat out denied. 

No I didn't.  It does.  But it goes both ways.  Statistics show that players who know they can give up a few runs, do.

There is ZERO correlation in pitchers pitching poorly on bad hitting teams, I'd actually say it's the opposite.  How many stud pitchers go to NY or Boston and see their ERA's blow up?

Mentality of course plays a part.  But you're flat out wrong to think that bad hitting causes bad pitching.  If anything, it's the other way around.

[bsking]

And I don't care.  I've long since giving a crap about post season awards.  4/5 times they don't go to the person who deserves them.