BBA 2009 Cy Young Award Ballot

For starters, here is how I added up the numbers, showing you which stats I added more weight to and why. If you only care about who I choose, then you can skip over the next few paragraphs.

My Methodology/Madness

Wins + (4.00 – ERA) multiplied by 10 + Complete Games + Shutouts + Innings Pitched + Strikeouts + (K/BB multiplied by 5) + (1.30 – WHIP) multiplied by 100 + (4- FIP) multiplied by 10 – (Wild Pitches + Balks) multiplied by 2

W+(4-ERA)*10+CG+SHO+IP+SO+(K/BB*5)+(1.3-WHIP)*100+(4-FIP)*10-(WP+BK)*2

For explanation, FIP is Fielder Independent Pitching on an ERA scale which can be defined at Fangraphs as:

a pitcher’s FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, which calculates a pitcher’s responsibility for the runs he allows based on his walks, strikeouts, and home runs allowed. The FIP formula is (HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)*3-K*2)/IP, plus a league-specific factor that scales FIP to match league average ERA for a given season and league.

About the Multipliers and the Equations

I used an ERA of 4.00 as a benchmark in this day and age of the mark of a good pitcher (obviously, an ERA under 3.00 is preferred) and I multiplied this number by 10 so that an ERA of 3.50 would count as 5 points rather than 0.5 (Verlander would be 5.5, Halladay 12.1 and Greinke 18.4).

I multiplied K/BB to give it a little more weight as most of the other numbers were two or three digits long (probably not necessary I admit).

I used a WHIP of 1.30 as a benchmark, too and I multiplied this number by 100 so that a WHIP of 1.20 would count as 10 points rather than 0.1 (Verlander would be 12, Halladay 17 and Greinke 23).

I used a FIP of 4.0 as a benchmark, too and I multiplied this number by 10 so that a FIP of 3.0 would count as 10 points rather than 1 (Verlander would be 12, Halladay 9 and Greinke 17).

And finally, I added up WP and BK and doubled that number to further penalize those pitchers and again add a number to the mix that was double digits if that total was 5 or more. I considered a multiplier of 10 on this but backed off this a bit.

The Top 3 Cy Young Award Winners

The numbers in parenthesis are the player’s score using my metrics as detailed above.

1) Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals (568.0) …. 5 points

By the numbers:

W 16 ERA 2.16 CG 6 SHO 3 IP 229.1 WP 5 SO 242 K/BB 4.75 WHIP 1.07 FIP 2.3 BK 0

2) Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers (558.9) …. 3 points

By the numbers:

W 19 ERA 3.45 CG 3 SHO 1 IP 240.0 WP 8 SO 269 K/BB 4.27 WHIP 1.18 FIP 2.8 BK 4

3) Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (541.2) ….1 point

By the numbers:

W 17 ERA 2.79 CG 9 SHO 4 IP 239.0 WP 2 SO 208 K/BB 5.94 WHIP 1.13 FIP 3.1 BK 0