1990 AL Cy Young revisited

[TheRealMattKain]

Here's something to take our minds off of the Brewers.

In 1990 the AL Cy Young award ended up going to Bob Welch, who won an astounding 27 games for the A's. However, it really was an amazing year for several pitchers who put together seasons that arguably could have won the Cy Young award in any number of seasons. Looking back, who do you feel should have won the Cy Young award?

Bob Welch
Pros: 27-6 record - you have to go all the way back to Denny Mclain in 1968(!) to find a pitcher who won more games.
Cons: Wins are a poor way to evaluate pitchers (especially when you have a strong offense like the '90 A's behind you), only 127 Ks on 238 innings, walked 77 (mediocre K/BB rate), 126 ERA+ is good but not great.

Bobby Thigpen
Pros: Saved a MLB record 57 games - the record still stands today. 210 ERA+ is pretty dominant.
Cons: Saves are somewhat arbitrary and often based on opportunity rather than performance. 70 Ks, 32 BBs in 88.7 innings - pretty good, but not amazing.

Dennis Eckersley
Pros: 48 saves (2nd in league). 0.61 ERA and 606 ERA+(!). WHIP of 0.614(!!). 73 Ks to 4 walks is unreal. 2 homeruns and 5 earned runs allowed entire season in 73.3 innings.
Cons: Not many cons. About the only thing here is that he pitched 73.3 innings out of the bullpen vs. the 200+ that you might get from a starter.

Roger Clemens
Pros: 21-6 record. 1.93 ERA and 213 ERA+ are dominant (led league in both). 209 Ks and 54 BBs in 228.3 innings is pretty excellent (led league in K/BB rate). Only gave up 7 HR all season. 7 CG and 4 shutouts.
Cons: Again, wins not best indicator of performance. Only finished 4th in the league in Ks, not even in top 5 in innings pitched.

Personally, I've got to go with Eck. I think Clemens is a close second, but Eck was insane and put up probably the best season ever for a closer (maybe the best season ever out of the bullpen). Anyone else?

MK

[Robideaux]

Clemens, without a moment's hesitation.

 

I was only about 10 years old at the time, but even at that age I could tell that the voters made a mistake. How can you give the Cy to a pitcher who was probably only the third best pitcher on his own team? I remember being astounded at the time. Alas, I soon came to understand that baseball folk of a certain ilk tend to judge individual pitchers solely by "what really matters"--wins and losses.

 

Eck was pretty sick that year too, but I'll take 228 innings of dominance over 73 innings of super-dominance.

[mothershipconnection]

An ERA under 2 for a starter is freakin' wicked. Still Eckersley's stats are just sick. It's a tough call, but it's between those two with no Welch in the discussion for me.

[owbc]

Any pitcher that goes 27-6 is doing something right.

However, I would say that Welch is #3 at best and probably #4 depending on how much importance you give to relievers.

This is a virtual tie between Eck and Clemens. Eck had about the most dominant possible season for a reliever and Clemens had about the most dominant possible season for a starter. I'm leaning Eckersley based on that being possibly the best season out of the bullpen ever. Only 4 walks and 5 runs all year! Bad defense/umpiring could cause that many. Still, those 4 shutouts by Clemens really stick out and he pitched 3 times as many innings.

I hate to break the tie this way (and it technically doesn't count), but in the 1990 ALCS, Boston (88 wins) faced off against Oakland (103 wins). Eck had 3 apperances, 3.1 IP, 2 saves, and no ER. Clemens pitched only 6 shutout innings in game 1 and the Red Sox ended up losing 9-1. Clemens was ejected in the 2nd inning of game 4 after allowing 3 ER. The A's won the series 3-1. Thus, Eckersley gets the nod.

[Fatter than Joey]

I remember thinking "the reason Welch had 27 wins was because of Eck" back in 1990.

 

Eck was off the charts insane -- I would have voted for him -- but certainly Clemens was awesome as well.