Gagne Wins Cy Young

[mckerney]

First reliever to win it in 11 years, and it wasn't even closer. He picked up 28 of the 32 first place votes.

[Fonzie]

I'm not rabidly against Gagne winning and don't really have any preconceptions about relievers getting the Cy Young, but I still think Mark Prior was the best NL pitcher this year.

What really shocked me was the landslide nature of the vote. Wow.

[Fonzie]

Dola-

I found this interesting:

Gagne is just the second Canadian to win a Cy Young, following Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs in 1971.

Go Canada!

[SackAttack]

Originally posted by Fonzie
I'm not rabidly against Gagne winning and don't really have any preconceptions about relievers getting the Cy Young, but I still think Mark Prior was the best NL pitcher this year.

What really shocked me was the landslide nature of the vote. Wow.

Lemme ask you something. If Dusty Baker had had both Gagne and his Wood/Prior duo...do you think the Cubs go to the World Series?

Never underestimate the importance of having that dominant relief ace you can turn to in the late innings. Prior was outstanding, but there hasn't ever been a pitcher save 50+ regular season games without blowing one before. Under ordinary circumstances, Prior gets my vote. But with a season as special as the one Gagne had...I think exceptions have to be made.

[FrogMan]

WOOHOO!!!!

FM

[Fonzie]

Originally posted by SackAttack
Lemme ask you something. If Dusty Baker had had both Gagne and his Wood/Prior duo...do you think the Cubs go to the World Series?

Perhaps he would've made the difference, but perhaps not. Dusty has a penchant for riding his starters for far too long, regardless of his closer's skill (as evidenced by the abuse his starters endured in his San Francisco days when he had Rob Nen). His poor starter management was, in my opinion, really what cost them their shot at the WS.

But like I said, I don't begrudge Gagne for his win and can certainly see why he was selected. He had a terrific year. I just think Prior was better.

And by the way, that's hard for me to say, as I'm a Cardinals fan.

[Samdari]

Originally posted by Fonzie
Perhaps he would've made the difference, but perhaps not. Dusty has a penchant for riding his starters for far too long, regardless of his closer's skill (as evidenced by the abuse his starters endured in his San Francisco days when he had Rob Nen). His poor starter management was, in my opinion, really what cost them their shot at the WS.

But like I said, I don't begrudge Gagne for his win and can certainly see why he was selected. He had a terrific year. I just think Prior was better.

And by the way, that's hard for me to say, as I'm a Cardinals fan.

Well, I think there were two things that made Gagne a runaway winner.

1) Perfection. Saving 50 games is a bit overrated. Hell, saving 57 can be accomplished in the right circumstances by an average pitcher (*cough* Thigpen). But, not blowing a single one is extremely difficult. Being perfect while converting that many chances is pretty impressive.

2) Pundits began talking in August/September that no starter was having a dominant year. While that argument does not hold up when viewing Prior's season, these kinds of things tend to pick up momentum, and his injury did keep him from missing enough starts to miss 20 wins. That seems to be the stat focused on by most baseball media for starters - wins.

While Prior's ERA was fantastic, it was more than twice Gagne's, and his WHIP was nearly double as well. As good as Prior was, Gagne was just better this year - a year that will go down in history as the best ever by a reliever.

[clintl]

Originally posted by Fonzie
I'm not rabidly against Gagne winning and don't really have any preconceptions about relievers getting the Cy Young, but I still think Mark Prior was the best NL pitcher this year.

What really shocked me was the landslide nature of the vote. Wow.

Excuse me, but Jason Schmidt had a better season than Prior by just about every significant measure (ERA, WHIP, BAA, BB). Prior has the edge in K's, and a very, very slight edge in IP, but that's about it. They were very close, but Schmidt was better.

[HornedFrog Purple]

28 first place votes? Doesn't that translate to 3 3rd place votes with the exchange rate?

[Vince]

What clint said.

Congrats to Gagne, though.