Ben Sheets NL Cy Young Candidate?

[nate82]

If Ben keeps on pitching the way he has will he be a finalist for the Cy Yong award? I think he is with the most complete games in the NL and only Brandon Webb who is a Cy Young Candidate is the only other player with a complete game. I know there are other things to look at than complete games and shut outs. But I believe complete games have become rare for starting pitchers there was only about 70 pitchers last year with a complete game and only a couple with multiple complete games. You can't fault Sheets record it is at 6-1 right now and his ERA is close to Webb's and Zambranos.

 

So is Ben Sheets a Cy Young Candidate?

[orca1963]

I don't think he would be in the running right now for Cy Young though I think he is close enough that should he stay consistant he may very well be. What I hope for more though is that he is in the running to be re-signed by the Brewers. Cory Hart, Ben Sheets and Prince (third because of the Boras factor) would be my priority order. All of them are award winning type players imo. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[kramnoj]

I don't think he's high on the list right now. Voters love them wins. At the end of the year, if he ends up with a decent amount of wins, continues to do well in the ERA department and strikes out a bit more, he coulld find himself in the running.

[endaround]

Candidate? Yep. Favorite? Not even close. Webb is likely to run away with it since he has a decent chance at 25 wins.

[JohnBriggs12]

It's June 1st. Any discussion of post season awards is about 3 months early.

 

As for Sheets, let him make 30+ starts before even mentioning his name with any award.

[rluzinski]

Bill James came up with an equation to try and predict the Cy Young winner:

 

Cy Young Points (CYP) = ((5*IP/9)-ER) + (SO/12) + (SV*2.5) + Shutouts + ((W*6)-(L*2)) + VB (see below)

 

Victory Bonus (VB): A 12-point bonus awarded for leading your team to the division champsionship (pro-rated based on the current standings).

 

Here's the list:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6618

 

Sheet is currently 8th. Web is leading with 87 points. Of course, 54 of those points have come from his record, which tells you just how important it really is.

 

Really though, if any pitcher wins 25 games these days, they are going to win the Cy Young, no?

[logan82]

Yep, wins are important to the Cy Young. That's why I think it is such a joke of an award. Really, when it comes down to it, which post season awards aren't?

[PeaveyFury]

They usually do a reasonably good job with the MVP's, save for Rollins last year. Prior to that mistake, they really hadn't screwed that up in either league in quite a while. The ROTY has been fairly correct as well.

 

But Gold Gloves are a joke to absurd levels.

[rluzinski]

Prior to that mistake, they really hadn't screwed that up in either league in quite a while.

 

Justin Morneau winning it in 2006 is still ruthlessly mocked by the sabermetric community. Just look at this:

 

2006 AL OPS Leaders

 

It's easy to argue that Morneau wasn't even the most player on his team that year.

[saget]

If you want to know how badly the media overvalues wins look no further than Mel Kiper on ESPN radio last night.

 

"To me if you want to be a Hall of Fame pitcher you had to have won 20 games at least once in your career"

 

At least the host disagreed with him, but there should be a new way of determining awards.

 

Maybe there can be a round table of Bill James, Rob Neyer, Yoda, Billy Bean, Theo, the frozen corpse of Ted Williams, and all the best baseball minds in the country, can duke it out over a 4 hour session + lunch. TV coverage of course.

[RU Rah Rah]

If Webb's overall stats sucked and he had lucked his way into 10-2, I might think differently, but he's doing well in pretty much everything across the board, from WHIP to K/BB ratio.

[dadofandrew]

Mornaeu was arguably the 4th best player on the Twins that year. It rendered all postseason awards moot for me.

[MessiahRp]

I also think the Brewers would have to get better in a hurry because I don't think they're as likely to give a CY to a player on a team with a losing record that's fighting to stay out of the cellar.

 

Rp

[homer]

"It rendered all postseason awards moot for me"

 

Podsednik getting jobbed on ROY did it for me.

[BrewCrewForever]

If Sheets continues to pitch the way he has. No reason he doesn't get some votes and possibly win it.

[MessiahRp]

Well it looks like the Brewers went on that tear in a hurry like I suggested and Sheets almost has to be considered a front runner for that CY award. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Fatter than Joey]

I don't think there is any doubt that Sheets is in the pack -- I think Volquez has the inside track at this point.

[splitterpfj]

Webb slowed down, Sheets hasn't - knowing the voters often go with the best pitcher on a playoff team - could the leaders be Ben Sheets and Ryan Dempster?

 

It's clearly way too early to really debate this, but those two guys, and Webb, are in the best position right now. Volquez will have to finish with an ERA under 2, or win 24 games or something nuts like that. He's been the best pitcher in the league, but with his team flat on its face, it won't matter.

[pitchleague]

yeah, if Volquez does somthing like splitter suggests and wins the Cy Young over guys like Sheets or Dempster or Webb, who are on actual playoff/contender teams, and then I look back at how Sheets did NOT win in 2004 under pretty much the same circumstances, I will then lose even more respect that I have for the voting process in MLB.

[cwolf2012]

yeah, if Volquez does somthing like splitter suggests and wins the Cy Young over guys like Sheets or Dempster or Webb, who are on actual playoff/contender teams, and then I look back at how Sheets did NOT win in 2004 under pretty much the same circumstances, I will then lose even more respect that I have for the voting process in MLB.

Ben Sheets' line in 2004: 12-14, 237 IP, 2.70 ERA, 264 Ks, 32 BBs, 164 ERA+, .98 WHIP

Randy Johnson in 2004: 16-14, 245.2 IP, 2.60 ERA, 290 Ks, 44 BBs, 177 ERA+, .90 WHIP on a team that finished in last place.

 

Don't get me wrong, that was an amazing year for Sheets, but you have to remember that Johnson was absolutely unbelievable as well. Sheets should have finished probably 2nd or 3rd based on peripherals, but Johnson was pretty clearly the best pitcher that year.

[splitterpfj]

I thought Johnson was the best pitcher in the league that year, with Sheets clearly second-best. When the votes came out, and I saw where Sheets rated, I was reminded yet again that the wrong people are allowed to choose.

[Oldcity]

Sheets at 9-1. Joe Morgan said the first thing he looks at is wins and losses, so Ben's sittin' pretty!

[cwolf2012]

Joe Morgan + most of the HoF and Cy Young voters all look at W-L as the primary stat. It boggles my mind that Bert Blyleven still isn't in the HoF.

[Bring Back the Stein]

Eh. Who cares about the Cy Young. I'd rather he win the World Series MVP.

[Tbadder]

And the Morneau thing just goes to show you how you don't want your players to win awards if you're a small market team. It's gonna cost them.