C.C. Sabathia just pitched another complete game, a 1-hitter in fact. There's no doubt that if he had his combined statistics in only the NL or only the AL, he would be a favorite for the Cy Young and quite possibly the favorite. He's been the best when it counts the most, lifting the Milwaukee Brewers from fighting for a playoff spot when he was acquired to being 5.5 games ahead of Philadelphia and 6.5 ahead of St. Louis. He's going to pitch about a thousand innings, including 9 complete games so far.
Now I'm not saying that he'd be a lock in the AL or the NL, as Lincecum and Cliff Lee have been incredible as well, but to think that switching leagues hurts his chances isn't quite fair. The purpose of the Cy Young is the BEST pitcher (unlike the MVP so there's no debate over the the word "valuable"). Perhaps a player who switches leagues should have his statistics from the other league counted in some way. Otherwise, it's certainly possible that the BEST pitcher in the MLB might not win the Cy Young some years, and that should never happen.
Sabathia will still get a lot of votes for the NL Cy Young award and with an incredible September might just win it anyways. Still, we shouldn't wait for something bad to occur in order to fix a problem. Whether or not C.C. wins his 2nd consecutive Cy Young or not this year, the issue deserves further discussion.
2. K-Rod, chill out. Voters, don't be ridiculous.
It would be ridiculous if Francisco Rodriguez wins the Cy Young because he breaks the save record. Absolutely ridiculous. I'm sorry, but his season is not even comparable to Eric Gagne's Cy Young season. How many saves did Gagne blow? Zero! He had an ERA of 1.20 and a WHIP of 0.692. He also pitched 82 1/3 innings, throwing 137 Ks.K-Rod this year has an ERA of 2.47 with a WHIP of 1.22. Now, to emphasize those differences there would be nitpicking a little, but the fact that K-Rod has blown 5 saves is extremely significant. K-Rod has pitched 58 1/3 innings, throwing 67 Ks. Clearly, K-Rod's season cannot even compare with Gagne's so far. The only advantage K-Rod will have is more saves. K-Rod will have more than Gagne's 55 that season (as of today K-Rod has 53).
I find it comical that there is hype over the saves record. From the standpoint of the closer, breaking the record is more a matter of chance that his team offers him so many opportunities. Personally, I think Mariano is more deserving of the award with his 32 saves to 1 blown save, 1.46 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 62 2/3 innings, and 70 Ks. That's right, I don't even think K-Rod is the best reliever in the AL this year.
Imagine if K-Rod doesn't break the saves record and gets 56 saves. How many less votes would he receive than if he had 57, and how many less than if he had 58? Yeah, it doesn't make much sense, does it? So what if somebody breaks a record?
I read the other day that it would mean a lot to K-Rod if he broke the saves record and I cracked up. I'd rather have 55 saves and zero blown saves than 65 and 5 blown saves.
The only way somebody can win a Cy Young award after blowing 5 saves should be if they were big in the big moments, but K-Rod hasn't had to deal with pressure (the Angels are 17 games ahead in their division). Compare that to each of Mariano's saves right now.
So baseball voters, if you vote for K-Rod as your Cy Young pick, you need to not be a baseball voter anymore. Seriously, I think they should take each one of those voters and kick them out of the voting for any kind of award ever again. There is absolutely no way K-Rod should get a single first-place vote for the AL Cy Young. It's a 2-way battle between Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay right now, with Lee winning.
Now if players such as Chris Johnson, Mendenhall, DeAngelo Williams, Fargas, or Felix Jones are available, all those players deserve a pickup ahead of Perry. Well ahead, in fact. Yeah, Chris Perry was a first round pick (4 years ago though), but he's only rushed for 337 yards in his career. Everybody knows who he is since he played for Michigan, but playing at a good program won't help you break tackles. Fact is, Perry has never had a game with double digit carries, didn't play last year, and had 10 total carries the year before that. You think the Bengals are going to throw him out there for 20+ carries a game? If they do, there's no way he'll last even close to the whole season (so they won't).