Oswalt for Cy Young...

Every year since his rookie year people have been putting him on that pedestle of being a Cy- Young Candidate but has never really got there or his hype just died down.

I remember when miller came into the league they were all praising him and the next year Oswalt emerged and everyone was saying this is a better candidate for Cy Young. This of course before the season starts, then for some reason he fades out of contention whether it is becuase of injury or we don't support him with the runs to make him that much more dominant.

Look at Clemens the guy should lead the league in wins right now if it wasn't for our horrible run production at the begning of the year and the crappy bull pen we had. He had so many no desicions becuase of it.

Our pitchers need our hitters to do what they are doing now and they are more calm when they are out there and have a lead to work with.

 

I think Oswalts problem has always been making it through the season healthy. As soon as he manages that, I think he'll win a cy young. This is probably the healthiest he's been over a whole season (and he's had the groin and rib issues) and if he wins out and pitches well, I'm sure he'll get strong consideration for the Cy.

 

Miller came up in the 1999 season but only started 1 game which he lost.

In 2000 he started like 16 games and went 6 and 6 but everyone started having rave revues about him.

Oswalt came in 2001 and won 14 games his rookie season and Miller won 16 games that season.

 

He is definitely in the running this season.

All he has to do now is just win out his remain starts and post a solid ERA while doing that.

He is currently leading the NL in wins with 17. 20 wins is definitely reachable.

Also in contention is:

1. Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson - But he is pitching for the worse team in baseball with not enough stats in the wins colunm to make too much noise).

2. Roger "The Rocket"" Clemens - Blistering start with 8-0, cooled off due to lack of run support but he is picking it up lately.....well at least he is getting his belated run support now with a solid 3:19 ERA. A few more wins on top of his 16-4 and record could do the magic. It is very possible that his ERA will fall back to below 3:00 if he pitches like he did on Wednesday. His next start is against the Cards.....ouuch.

3. Jason Scmith [sp] - Midseason ERA leader and Cy-young favorite. Cooled off lately but can still kick into top gear late in this season. Will get lots of acclaim if he pulls it together now and leads his Giants to the NL West title or NL Wild Card.

4. Greg Madux - The Proffessor. Perenial cy-young candidate. Can't rule him out. Solid numbers all arround this season.

5. Eric Gagne - What can anyone say about this guy? Almost automatic save. 80something consecutive saves. One of the main reasons why the Dodgers are where they are now.

Notable mention list will include guys like Russ Ortiz and the entire Cards starting pitching staff. Roy definite has the inside track for his 1st of many cy-young awards.

These last weeks will be the decider. There no clear favorites now but I have faith that a first 20-win season for Roy would do the trick.

 

You forgot Pavano who I think would be the current frontrunner.

I think ultimately the award will go to Roger Clemens. If he can get to 18+ wins and keep the ERA below 3.2, he will win it on name. If he leads the Stros to the Wild Card, it's a lock.

 

If they Astros due wrap up the wild card i also believe that they will have to give it to Clemens.

 

Randy Johnson is having the greatest pitching season in the NL this year. Leads the league in ERA, strikeouts, 2nd in innings. It'd be a mistake for anyone else to get it, especially with no other truly standout candidate.

 

Agreed, despite being 12-13... his WHIP is a microscopic .89 and his BAA is .193, although he probably won't have much of a shot with all those losses.

Johan Santana is something like 15-2 with a 1.83 ERA since June 9th. His numbers rival Johnson's and he should be the top contender in the AL with Schilling and Mulder.

Damn shame you guys couldn't hold onto that guy, imagine your Rotation with a dominant lefty like him in it.

But as a Twins fan I'll say thanks a bunch.

 

don't forget zambrano whose also pitching pretty well. as for oswalt, he's always mentioned for the cy young at the beginning of the year it's just that injuries have kept him from actually winning it. as good as he is i think it's only a matter of time before he gets it. his era is a bit high right now but if he can bring it down he has a shot. i think clemens is haveing a better year between the 2 anyways.

 

I think if they're going to give a reliever the Cy Young this year, it would be Benitez(40 saves, 1.08 ERA) rather than Gagne. But his chances are probably slim.

I get the feeling that if Clemens don't screw up too much down the stretch, his guady win-loss record will tilt the award in his favor. The big unit might deserve it, but the guy has a losing record on a horrible team. Sure, it's not his fault his offense can't score a lick, but plenty of awesome players on bad teams have been screwed before. Just look at A-Rod with the MVP until last season.

 

Astros get in the wild card and Roger better get the cy young! If they dont then hopefully Roger can win a couple more games and still get it.

 

Exactly.

In addition to leading the league in ERA, K, and BAA, Johnson is second in K/9 behind only Oliver Perez and second in K/BB behind only Ben Sheets. Johnson has the fourth worst run support of any starting pitcher in the National League, behind only Sheets, Odalis Perez, and Brad Penny.

Wins by a pitcher are largely due to factors that he cannot control, such as bullpen performance and run support, so I don't think Johnson's season should be diminished by his W-L record when he has dominant statistics across the board.

 

Oswalt's ERA is too high, he has not been that dominant a pitcher.

I would give it to Roger before Roy.

DD

 

Carl Pavano deserves it, but Roger is going to get it.

Oswalt should not be in consideration with an ERA approaching 3.6. It's funny that he's most likely going to finally win 20 and is in Cy Young consideration in what has been far and away his worst season in the majors. If this guy stays healthy (big IF) throughout his career, the Astros have a great on their hands.

Johnson has been the best pitcher in the NL this year, but you have to factor in team success. I don't care if it's not under his control. They system is flawed, but you can't stop now.

 

Why is Oswalt's health a "big if"???

A lot of posts here are talking about Oswalt's "brittle health", and I really am trying to find out the plethora of injuries this guy has had that causes everybody to be so weary.

Oswalt's health issues have been limited only to his groin (and he hurt that last year on the basepaths, not pitching)... that's the only injury he's had that has caused him to ever miss a start. He got the problem fixed last year (even though he actually finished the 2003 season, pre-surgery, pitching his best baseball of the year... the surgery was merely to prevent future occurences).

He's well on his way to being one of the leauge leaders in both innings pitched and strikeouts. He's had the strained ribcage, but I haven't seen him miss a start yet for it... and if that's the only reason why his ERA is so high (and when you consider an ERA of 3.56 to be high... that's how good this guy is), then so be it.

A lot of people also forget that he pitched the entire 2002 season at full strength, and had the team been better (or if he hadn't had some subpar starts to end the year, when the team was already "done"), he would have finished top-3 in Cy Young voting.

So, out of his three full seasons, he's basically made every start in 2 of them, and he's never missed a start due to arm/elbow/shoulder trouble.

Seeing that the groin has been completley fixed, I don't see anything to think why Oswalt can't be as durable as they come.

Guys like Wade Miller, Andy Pettite, and Mark Prior (who are more solidly built) have already had much more injury problems than Roy has ever had.

 

I think the CY Yong winner in the NL will come from whatever team maked the wild card. Of the above strarting pitcher's, their era are all pretty close together. I don't see them giving it to a closer 2 years in a row.