Chapman for Cy Young?

[arkimadee]

I know its early, but if he keeps these dominant outings up, could it be possible he is in discussions for the award at the end of the season. I remember back in the early 2000's Gagne was in discussions for the award. Can't remember if he actually won it or not.

[Ironman92]

Gagne (roidman) won with like 55 saves I think.

Chapman HAS to be a top contender right now.

[Ironman92]

Yeah Gagne won 3 huge unhittable years and was awful and injured every other year

[RedsFanInBama]

No question about it, he's absolutely in the thick of it right now. What he's doing is incredible. How many players this year have even made solid contact against him? Seven hits in 28 innings? Zero earned runs? 50 strikeouts? Amazing stuff.

[Assembly Hall]

I also agree that he has to be in the discussion right now.

[improbus]

I'm doing everything in my power to stop this thread's jinx potential. So, here goes:

"No reliever should win the Cy Young, they don't pitch enough innings. Plus, how can you give the Cy Young to a guy with no drivers license or with a tied up woman in his hotel room?"

How did I do? I feel like we need an anti-jinx post for every jinx post.

[Assembly Hall]

I'm doing everything in my power to stop this thread's jinx potential. So, here goes:

"No reliever should win the Cy Young, they don't pitch enough innings. Plus, how can you give the Cy Young to a guy with no drivers license or with a tied up woman in his hotel room?"

How did I do? I feel like we need an anti-jinx post for every jinx post.

LOL.......I hear ya!!!!!!!!!!!! How about Chappy for MVP??????:beerme:

[Krawhitham]

Gagne (roidman) won with like 55 saves I think.

Chapman HAS to be a top contender right now.

Chapman is not even in the conversation right now

For a reliever to win he has to have a boat load of saves, no matter how good the rest of his numbers are. Chapman on has 5 right now. Assuming he does not have another BS all season he is only going to have about 30 at seasons end. (Cordero had 25 Save opportunities from June 3 till the end of the season last year, 22 in 2010 for same time period)

Gagné won in 2003 for a few reasons, one he was perfect in Save Opportunities 55-0, Chapman already has one blown save.
Gagné set the NL record for saves in a season, something Chapman can not do this season. Even given those reasons with the same stats Gagné would not win in 2012, his WAR was only 3.2 while the pitchers who came in 2nd & 3rd had 6.4 & 7.2 respectively. In 2003 voters were not looking at WAR like they do now.

[Assembly Hall]

Chapman is not even in the conversation right now

For a reliever to win he has to have a boat load of saves, no matter how good the rest of his numbers are. Chapman on has 5 right now. Assuming he does not have another BS all season he is only going to have about 30 at seasons end. (Cordero had 25 Save opportunities from June 3 till the end of the season last year, 22 in 2010 for same time period)

Gagné won in 2003 for a few reasons, one he was perfect in Save Opportunities 55-0, Chapman already has one blown save.
Gagné set the NL record for saves in a season, something Chapman can not do this season. Even given those reasons with the same stats Gagné would not win in 2012, his WAR was only 3.2 while the pitchers who came in 2nd & 3rd had 6.4 & 7.2 respectively. In 2003 voters were not looking at WAR like they do now.

I understand what you are saying but I disagree. I think if you had the vote right now, Chappy would be in the Top Ten.

I cant remember that '03 season off-hand. Take away what Gagne did, was there a starter out there that had a spectacular season? I dont recall the Dodgers making the play-offs. Were they even close? The Cy Young simply goes to who the voter's determination of who the best pitcher is in a given year based on what their individual criteria is. There is no points system in place.

[texasdave]

Was listening to the Astros' broadcast while at work last night and they had Craig Biggio on for awhile. He said he was talking to Astros' hitters before the game about Chapman and they pretty much all said the same thing. Per Biggio, Chapman has made a subtle change in his delivery that makes him very deceptive. He relayed that the hitters he talked to said Chapman threw harder last year but the ball was easy to pick up out of his hand. Now it is sneaks up on them and is almost impossible to get around on. By the time the hitter picks it up it is too late to hit that upper 90 MPH cheese. Biggio did not say what the adjustment was.

[texasdave]

Chapman has faced 103 batters and fanned 50 of them. Basically, every other batter grabs some pine. He has given up just one extra base hit all year. His OPSA is .263. To put that into some sort of context, Willie Harris has an OPS of .278 this year. He makes every batter he faces into Willie Harris clones.

I think he will get some votes. He would be hard-pressed to win.

[Assembly Hall]

Chapman has faced 103 batters and fanned 50 of them. Basically, every other batter grabs some pine. He has given up just one extra base hit all year. His OPSA is .263. Amazing.

So what are your Cy Young thoughts on him?

[Ironman92]

Chapman is not even in the conversation right now

For a reliever to win he has to have a boat load of saves, no matter how good the rest of his numbers are. Chapman on has 5 right now. Assuming he does not have another BS all season he is only going to have about 30 at seasons end. (Cordero had 25 Save opportunities from June 3 till the end of the season last year, 22 in 2010 for same time period)

Gagné won in 2003 for a few reasons, one he was perfect in Save Opportunities 55-0, Chapman already has one blown save.
Gagné set the NL record for saves in a season, something Chapman can not do this season. Even given those reasons with the same stats Gagné would not win in 2012, his WAR was only 3.2 while the pitchers who came in 2nd & 3rd had 6.4 & 7.2 respectively. In 2003 voters were not looking at WAR like they do now.

Gagne had 2 wins and 3 losses that year.

[Ironman92]

Right now he's behind Gio, Dickey.....Lynn is right there.

Frieri for the Angels is putting up very similar numbers so far. Batters have trouble even putting the ball in play. He throws 94-97 with the most movement I've ever seen. Get a chance to watch the end of an Angels game...do it

[webbbj]

he will be in the conversation i dont think he wins tho. still would love to see him start but it probably never happens.

[Krawhitham]

I understand what you are saying but I disagree. I think if you had the vote right now, Chappy would be in the Top Ten.

I cant remember that '03 season off-hand. Take away what Gagne did, was there a starter out there that had a spectacular season? I dont recall the Dodgers making the play-offs. Were they even close? The Cy Young simply goes to who the voter's determination of who the best pitcher is in a given year based on what their individual criteria is. There is no points system in place.

1st place (146.0 points) 2-3 1.20 ERA 55 saves 137 K did not go to playoffs (15.5 games outs)
2nd place (73 points) 17-5 2.34 ERA 208 K went to playoffs
3rd place (60 points) 18-6 2.43 ERA 245 K went to playoffs
4th Place (9 points) 21-7 3.81 ERA 149 K went to playoffs

[Krawhitham]

Was listening to the Astros' broadcast while at work last night and they had Craig Biggio on for awhile. He said he was talking to Astros' hitters before the game about Chapman and they pretty much all said the same thing. Per Biggio, Chapman has made a subtle change in his delivery that makes him very deceptive. He relayed that the hitters he talked to said Chapman threw harder last year but the ball was easy to pick up out of his hand. Now it is sneaks up on them and is almost impossible to get around on. By the time the hitter picks it up it is too late to hit that upper 90 MPH cheese. Biggio did not say what the adjustment was.

Hits were not his issue last season, he had a .147 BBA. Walks were his problem last season (.325 OBP against)

[RedsFanInBama]

Hits were not his issue last season, he had a .147 BBA. Walks were his problem last season (.325 OBP against)

Hits might not have been a problem last year, but they are less of a problem this year. Ability to pick up the ball becomes a factor either way. Maybe players are swinging at more balls out of the zone against Chapman this year than last year?

[Assembly Hall]

1st place (146.0 points) 2-3 1.20 ERA 55 saves 137 K did not go to playoffs (15.5 games outs)
2nd place (73 points) 17-5 2.34 ERA 208 K went to playoffs
3rd place (60 points) 18-6 2.43 ERA 245 K went to playoffs
4th Place (9 points) 21-7 3.81 ERA 149 K went to playoffs

LOL.....the points are votes man. You get so many for 1st, 2nd, and third.

You dont get so many points for wins, or innings or the like.

[The DARK]

Gio Gonzalez, Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg, Cole Hamels... he's got a lot of competition against some powerful NL pitching. There's a chance he goes unscored upon for the whole year and still doesn't get the award.

[RedsFanInBama]

Chapman will win if he goes the whole year without allowing an earned run.

[HatchMo]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/features/cyyoung

[Assembly Hall]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/features/cyyoung

Interesting, but it is speculative.

On another note last years Cy Young voted 2 relief pitchers in the top ten in both leagues.

Another noteworthy thing is that Linncecum finished in the top ten in the NL despite a 13-14 record.

[MrRedLegger]

"I got 99 problems but my pitch 'ain't one, hit me.
-Aroldis Chapman, 2012

[Krawhitham]

Chapman will win if he goes the whole year without allowing an earned run.

He will give up a HR at some point, he is already supplying all the power needed

[Spider Tre]

bit of an unrelated note but Chapman's on pace for 153 Ks
has a pitcher ever struck out 150+ batters from the bullpen in a season?

[Assembly Hall]

bit of an unrelated note but Chapman's on pace for 153 Ks
has a pitcher ever struck out 150+ batters from the bullpen in a season?

Interesting question. I did go back to 1974 to look LA's Mike Marshall's stats for that particular season. He had a 143 K's, but he pitched a whoping 208.1 innings!!!!!!

[New York Red]

Interesting question. I did go back to 1974 to look LA's Mike Marshall's stats for that particular season. He had a 143 K's, but he pitched a whoping 208.1 innings!!!!!!
I remember Marshall. It seemed like he pitched every game that year for the Dodgers, and he nearly did -- 106 appearances! We'll never see another season like that from a reliever. Yes, he had 143 K's but, like you said, 208 innings pitched, haha. His record was 15-12 (27 decisions without starting a game???).

One of the things I love about baseball is going back over time and looking at some of the freakish seasons so many players have had. Mike Marshall in 1974 definitely had one of those seasons. Not surprisingly, his career was pretty much downhill after that period (he appeared in 92 games in '73). Marshall also allowed a whopping 191 hits in 1974. For comparison's sake, at his current rate, it would take Aroldis Chapman eight seasons as a closer to surpass that total.

[texasdave]

"I got 99 problems but my pitch 'ain't one, hit me.
-Aroldis Chapman, 2012

From 5/14.

You can't steal my line without paying me some royalties. :laugh:


Allow me to take a stab at tightening up this thread title a little.

I got 99 problems but my pitch ain't one.

Thank you.