B League Cy Young Honor Goes to… Brandon Webb
November 14th, 2006 by Michael StephensIt’s like the baseball version of a classic philosophical quandary: If a pitcher with a 47-45 career record that no one knows wins the Cy Young in the NL, does it actually count?
Apparently. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks won a wide-open race for the Cy Young Award in the B League (also known as the National League), beating out San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman on Tuesday.
Don’t guys like Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens win this award? Webb’s total of 16 wins is the lowest by a Cy Young winner in a non-strike season. He’s one of six pitchers who tied for the B League lead with that pedestrian total this year. Having gone 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA, Webb received 15 of 32 first-place votes and 103 points in the balloting.
Hoffman, who broke the career saves record last season, got 12 first-place votes and 77 points after recording 46 saves and registering a 2.14 ERA.
St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, last year’s winner, finished third with two first-place votes. Houston’s Roy Oswalt, who led the NL with a 2.98 ERA, got the other three first-place votes and came in fourth.
Wow. We know St. Louis won the World Series, and deservingly so. But it’s hard to take the NL seriously when Brandon Webb is the Cy Young winner. Is the field really so weak that Webb can win this thing? He pitches for last-place Arizona. Has anyone outside the NL West heard of him? Could you have picked him out of a police lineup before you saw this picture?
Hoffman finishing second is equally dubious. Turning in 46 saves in one season is very impressive, but would he be in the top five had he not broken the career saves record in 2006? Carpenter, Oswalt and Carlos Zambrano, who finished fifth, all had their ups and downs — but are any less deserving than a reliever? Sure, Eric Gagne won a few years ago, but he was unhittable.
To his credit, Hoffman at least played a key role in leading his team to the playoffs, which is more than you can say for Webb. Alright, this is stupid. Wake us when the A League awards are announced.
