Today’s ballot is for the equivalent of the MLB Cy Young Award.  Here are my picks, all of whom were All Stars in 2010:

1st Place:  CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees. 

Not only did he have 21 wins and only 7 losses, he pitched 237.2 innings, had an ERA of 3.18, 197 strikeouts and a low WHIP of 1.191.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the WHIP stat, it means walks and hits per inning pitched.  It is one of the best ways to evaluate a pitcher.  He’s the only one of the 5 listed here who won over 20 games.  So, much as I hate the Yankees, he gets my nod for #1.

2nd Place:  Cliff Lee of the Texas Rangers.  Although he had a bit if a rough go after he was traded by Seattle to Texas, he deserves to be #2.  I know, the Cy young doesn’t usually go to a pitcher unless he has at least 16 wins, but when Cliff (12-9) is on, he is completely dominant, and he’s on most of the time, and almost always lights out when it really counts.  His ERA was 3.18, not the lowest by any means, but he gave up only .8 walks per 9 innings, his strikeout/walk ratio was 10.28, and his WHIP was a very low 1.003.  On paper he may not look like he deserves second place, but I’d take him as the ace on my team anyday.

3rd Place:  David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays.  David (19-6) had a 2.72 ERA, Pitched 208.2 innings and had 188 strikeouts.  So far, so good.  But his WHIP was 1.193, he gave up 3.4 walks/9 innings, his SO/BB ratio was 8.1, all worse than Lee.

4th Place:  Trevor Cahill of the Oakland Athletics. 
You would be wrong if you thought this was strickly a sentimental pick, because if it were, Trevor (18-8) would be much higher up the list.  He deserves considerable recognition for what he accomplished in 2010, especially since he started the year at AAA, and in the majors he pitched for a team with some of the lowest hitting stats in the league.  He finished with an ERA of just 2.97, had 118 strikeouts, and his WHIP was 1.108, second lowest of the 5 listed here behind only Cliff Lee.  His hits/9 innings was the lowest at 7.1.

5th Place:  Jon Lester of the New York Yankees.  Another Yankee, I know, but his stats alone warrant his consideration:  W/L of 19-9, ERA 3.25, 208 innings pitched, 225 strikeouts, 1.202 WHIP, and 7.2 hits/9 innings.

There you have it.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance is a group of about 235 bloggers who cover all 30 MLB teams, as well as some who write blogs of more general baseball interest and history of the game.  If you are interested in reading blogs about teams other than the A’s, let me know which teams and I’ll hook you up with my fellow bloggers who cover that team.

Nest:  The Stan Musial Award (akin to MLB’s Most Valuable Player award)