MetsCitiBlog

Mike Mussina is not a Hall of Fame Pitcher

First, let me say that I am not hating on the Yankees or Mike Mussina.  I believe that Moose has been a quiet warrior for two ball clubs for the last 18 years.  However, I do not believe he is of Hall of Fame caliber at all.  Sorry Moose, no Cy, no plaque.  I will give you some facts.  All of my information comes from Baseball-Reference.

First, I know about the whole 270 wins and over a hundred more wins than losses blah, blah.  Yes, he has been an above average pitcher for quite some time.  He is a compiler.  

He has never won the Cy Young Award.  Not once.  He finished second once, and had a fourth, couple fifths, and some lower or not at all on the ballot.  That is only taking into the American League as well.  So in any given years there were a a few to a lot of pitchers better than he.  He had a bunch of very good years.  He has never been phenomenal, not even for one year.  Mussina often wasn't even the best pitcher on his team or in his division.  Over that span of time, names like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Curt Shilling, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, David Cone, Jimmy Key, and Derek Lowe, even had more dominant years and/or careers.  

Also, postseason stats are not there for Mussina.  Does he have a ring?  His lifetime postseason record is 7 wins and 8 losses.  Since 2003, he was 3 wins and 6 losses.  

Good pitcher, good career, nothing phenomenal.  Sorry Moose, you will have to go to someone else's induction to get to the Hall of Fame.

Cliff Lee Wins the AL Cy Young

According to CBSSports, Cliff Lee completed his comback today by winning the Cy Young award for the American League. He received 24 of the 28 first place votes and 132 points total, with Roy Halladay receiving the other 4 first place votes and a total of 71 points.
Cliff was 22-3 and had an ERA of 2.53. Both led the league. It was quite a turnaround for Lee, who went 5-8 in 2007 with an ERA of 6.29. Halladay was 20-11 with and ERA of 2.78. Another great year from him, despite some tough-luck losses.

Maddon and Piniella are the Managers of the Year

No shock that Maddon was chosen. The Rays pay their team about $12 each. He took a bunch of rookies and veterans that are used to losing and made them believe it could be their year. He got all but one first place vote. I guess there is always one idiot in the room. Piniella over Manuel? Cubs should have been in there last year. On paper, the team should have had two WS appearances. I know he is a great manager, but Manuel took a dying team and managed them to the best record in baseball from then on. The gangsta gets my vote.

Tim Lincecum wins the NL Cy Young, Santana Third.

Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young award today and Brandon Webb took 2nd in votes. Johan Santana took third in the votes with Brad Lidge 4th and C.C. Sabathia finishing 5th. Lincecum was nasty this year, leading the league in k's and winning 18 games. Webb started off 9-0, but then took some losses and was touched up for 5 or more runs on five occasions. He certainly won a lot of games, but was hittable. Santana however, was unhittable basically from July on. He didn't even take a loss after June 28th when he lost to the Yankees, 3-2. He also led the league in ERA at 2.53 and innings pitched. If not for the pen, Santana wins at least 20 games and another CY Young. Oh, by the way, he needed surgery on his knee right after the season too, but he still did it day in and day out. My CY vote goes to #57.

Rookie of the Year Results

AL Rookie of the Year voting:

Here are the results of the Rookie of the Year Awards. Really both were no brainers. There were several good rookies this year, but no one rivaled Longoria or Soto. I listed the player and the total number of votes received. Longoria received all the first place votes in the AL, while Soto received all but one that went to Joey Votto.

Player/Total Votes
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay 140
Alexei Ramirez, Chicago 59
Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston 26
Mike Aviles, Kansas City 9
Armando Galarraga, Tigers 9
Joey Devine, Oakland 3
Denard Span, Minnesota 3
Nick Blackburn, Minnesota 1
Joba Chamberlain, NY 1
Brad Ziegler, Oakland 1

NL Rookie of the Year Voting:

Player/Total Votes
Geovanny Soto, Chicago 158
Joey Votto, Cincinnati 76
Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta 34
Edinson Volquez, Reds 9
Jay Bruce, Cincinnati 7
Kosuke Fukodome, Chicago 4

Beltran & Wright-Gold Glove Mets

The Mets website is reporting that Beltran and Wright have won Gold Glove awards. This is the second consecutive award for Wright and the third in a row for Beltran. I think Reyes joins them next year or soon there after.