Regular readers know that I've followed one of the great Cy Young horse races in recent memory, with Cam Schlittler going great start-for-great start with the Blue Jays' Dylan Cease. We got a little bit of separation this week, as the Athletics touched up Cease for four runs in five innings on Monday, and then Schlittler allowed just a solo shot in seven frames against the Rockies on Tuesday. Cam has crept just ahead by fWAR, enjoys a considerable lead in bWAR, and right now I think would end up at the top of most voters' ballots.
But something struck me in the aftermath of Cam's night against Colorado, the same night that Aaron Judge returned to the lineup. Cam Schlittler isn't just the Cy Young favorite, but he's built himself an MVP case. No pitcher has won the award since Clayton Kershaw for the 2014 Dodgers, and the last AL winner was 2011 Justin Verlander. Yordan Alvarez is in the hunt for the first Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Witt Jr. is probably the best overall player in the league, and if Junior Caminero tops the AL in home runs and plays on the Junior Circuit's best team, he probably gets his share of votes too.
And yet here's the thing: Cam stacks up fairly against all three of them!
Let's take Yordan, who I think has the inside track on the award right now. Schlittler's 0.1 fWAR back, a difference that is literally negligible, and more than three-quarters of a win better by bWAR. Alvarez's candidacy is based around the Triple Crown, probably being the best hitter in baseball, and dragging what we thought was a finally-deflated Houston Astros team to a division ****** le. ****** py AL West or not, that is exactly the blueprint for an MVP, if one for a slightly older voter.
Should Alvarez not win the Triple Crown, he loses a bit of his case, though he's likely still the best hitter in the game on a division winner, one who will have played in the neighborhood of 155 games. That's the big thing both undercutting Witt's MVP claim while bolstering his position as best all-around player — the Kansas City shortstop has only played 128 games at time of writing, yet leads the league in fWAR and bWAR among position players. With a solid-but-not-spectacular 18 homers and 124 wRC+, the parts of his game beyond hitting are doing the heavy lifting there as well. All that and the fact that the Royals are so bad work against him when it comes to end of season awards though, and Bobby seems cursed to be the Dave Stieb of shortstops.
#schlittler #young #cease
But something struck me in the aftermath of Cam's night against Colorado, the same night that Aaron Judge returned to the lineup. Cam Schlittler isn't just the Cy Young favorite, but he's built himself an MVP case. No pitcher has won the award since Clayton Kershaw for the 2014 Dodgers, and the last AL winner was 2011 Justin Verlander. Yordan Alvarez is in the hunt for the first Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Witt Jr. is probably the best overall player in the league, and if Junior Caminero tops the AL in home runs and plays on the Junior Circuit's best team, he probably gets his share of votes too.
And yet here's the thing: Cam stacks up fairly against all three of them!
Let's take Yordan, who I think has the inside track on the award right now. Schlittler's 0.1 fWAR back, a difference that is literally negligible, and more than three-quarters of a win better by bWAR. Alvarez's candidacy is based around the Triple Crown, probably being the best hitter in baseball, and dragging what we thought was a finally-deflated Houston Astros team to a division ****** le. ****** py AL West or not, that is exactly the blueprint for an MVP, if one for a slightly older voter.
Should Alvarez not win the Triple Crown, he loses a bit of his case, though he's likely still the best hitter in the game on a division winner, one who will have played in the neighborhood of 155 games. That's the big thing both undercutting Witt's MVP claim while bolstering his position as best all-around player — the Kansas City shortstop has only played 128 games at time of writing, yet leads the league in fWAR and bWAR among position players. With a solid-but-not-spectacular 18 homers and 124 wRC+, the parts of his game beyond hitting are doing the heavy lifting there as well. All that and the fact that the Royals are so bad work against him when it comes to end of season awards though, and Bobby seems cursed to be the Dave Stieb of shortstops.
#schlittler #young #cease
2 months ago
