Cleveland Cy Young Pitchers October 10, 2024

What's up peeps. I'm watching Game 4 of the Guardians vs the Tigers and the annoucners were talking about Guardian pitchers that have won the American League Cy Young Award. That got me thinking about which pitchers have won the award for the Indians/Guardians. I thought that the list was longer. The award was won six times by five pitchers. Here are the winners.  

Gaylord Perry 1972

C.C. Sabathia 2007

Cliff Lee 2008

Corey Kluber 2014 and 2017

Shane Bieber 2020

I really thought that Cleveland had more Cy Young winners. I was thinking that Bartolo Colon won his Cy Young in Cleveland. He actually won it in 2005 with the Angels. He placed 4th in Cy Young voting in 1999. Recently deceased Luis Tiant had a phenomenal 1968 season for the Indians going 21-9 with a 1.60 ERA. But it would be hard to not have the 31-game winner Denny McLain win the Cy Young unanimously, which he did. Bob Feller played in the era before the Cy Young was being awarded.

Would you have thought that another Cleveland pitcher would have won the A.L. Cy Young? Let me know in the comments box. 

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco
#BaseballSisco
#BaseballSiscoKidStyle

Cliff Lee signs with the Philadelphia Phillies

The Baseball side of the Twitter universe blew up with the news from MLB.com writer T.R. Sullivan and Joel Sherman of the New York Post that The Philadelphia Phillies have signed free agent pitcher Cliff Lee to a 5-year $100 Million-ish deal. Sherman on his twitter feed says that Lee was offered by the Yankees:

#Yankees offered Lee $23m for 6 yrs ($138M) plus a $16m option for a total of $154M over 7 yrs

So obviously his signing with the Phillies wasn't about the money. This makes the Phillies rotation look as such: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Simply amazing.

UPDATED 12/14/2010 1:40am

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that:

The Rangers' last offer was for $138 million over six years with an option for a seventh season.

So both the Yankees and the Rangers offered the same base salaries through the actual amounts that Lee could have earned would have depended on the tax rates he would have had to pay. In the end Lee agreed to a five-year deal with a vesting option for a sixth season that could bring the total to $120 million. Lee apparently took less years and less money to re-sign with the Phillies.

As I said before, Simply amazing.

FH

- Click Here for the AP report of Cliff Lee's signing with the Phillies from the Philadelphia Daily News website
- Click Here for T.R. Sullivan's article Phillies swoop in and bring back Lee from MLB.com dated Deember 14, 2010
- Click Here for Alden Gonzalez's article Yanks miss out on Lee as lefty heads to Philly from MLB.com dated December 14, 2010

Next Stop on the Cliff Lee Express? Texas!

Here is the report straight from Fox Sports:

Updated Jul 9, 2010 5:47 PM ET

Cliff Lee is headed to the Texas Rangers.

As first reported by the New York Post, the Rangers landed the ace left-hander and relief pitcher Mark Lowe from the Mariners in exchange for first-baseman Justin Smoak, right-handed pitchers Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke, and second-baseman/outfielder Matt Lawson.

The Yankees had emerged as the front-runner earlier Friday before a proposed deal stalled due to the Mariners’ concerns over an ankle injury to one of the three players they would have received, Double-A second baseman David Adams, major-league sources said.

The Rangers, identified Thursday as the front-runner by one rival general manager, made another push that was successful. The Mariners had been scouting the Rangers' farm system.

Earlier Friday, the Mariners were set to accept a package of three prospects from the Yankees for Lee — Adams, Triple-A catcher Jesus Montero and Triple-A right-hander Zach McAllister, sources said.

Montero was the centerpiece of the deal. Adams was widely reported to be the second piece.

Lee, a 31-year-old left-hander, is 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA this season. He was scheduled to pitch against the Yankees in Seattle on Friday night.

Includes reporting from the New York Post.

So Nolan Ryan finally gets a stud starter to anchor his rotation. I'm not sure if the team will be able to retain Lee's services past this year since the ownership issue of the team is still up in the air. Basically, this makes Lee a hired gun that the Rangers will utilize in their attempt to win the American League West from the perennial division champions: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The plot out West thickens.

FH

My POV on Lee and Strasburg

I have a few things that I want to touch upon right before the All-Star break. Here goes:

- Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee is arguably the best pitcher in the American League and some may even say currently pitching in the game. Sure Ubaldo Jimenez is currently 14-1 with a 2.27 ERA but he has slowed down from his torrid pace to start the season by winning only one of his last three starts and giving up 17 earned runs in 17.2 innings while in his previous 102 innings he only gave up 8 earned runs. Lee on the other hand missed the first month of the season and is 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA for a Seattle Mariners team that has had its shared of troubles this season. So far in 13 starts for the Mariners, Lee has only had two no-decisions, one start of 6.1 innings, three of 7 innings with the remaining 9 starts being of 8 innings (five starts) and 9 innings (four starts). Cliff Lee is what you would call a quality pitcher. He currently leads the A.L. in ERA (2.34), WHIP (0.95) and complete games (5). I would also venture to say that he leads the league in trade rumors. Speaking of which.

Rumors have linked Cliff Lee with two American League teams: The Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Rays. Let me touch on the Twins first. The Twins have not had a pitcher of Lee's caliber since they traded Johan Santana to the Mets in 2008 and have been rumored by Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse of offering prospects OF Aaron Hicks and C Wilson Ramos to Seattle for Lee. The Cincinnati Enquirer speculated that the Reds would make an offer to Seattle in the form of prospects headlined by 1B prospect Yonder Alonzo, the 2008 first round draft pick for the Reds. Most intriguing has been the statement by Rays owner Stuart Sternberg that money would not be an issue at this year's deadline and there has been a rumored three-team trade that would involve Cliff Lee and Tampa's B.J. Upton. I've always felt that the ideal place for Lee to be traded to was the New York Mets. The combination of Santana and Lee with Pelfrey and Niese make the Mets a favorite to win the Wild Card and make them strong contenders for the N.L. East. Whether or not Seattle trades him remains to be seen. We have an interesting three weeks to go until July 31st.

- Stephen Strasburg
Those that hear me talk about Strasburg feel that I am against the kid succeeding. Not so. I have only felt that the kid has not been able to pitch in any real trouble situations since the organization has had him pitch against sub-standard MLB lineups. Before this week, the only strong lineup that he faced was the Chicago White Sox while he dominated the Pirates and the Royals and was good against the Indians. This week showed me something about him.

Strasburg faced better lineups in the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. I watched him pitch in the Braves game and came away with the following points of view. The Braves were able to work him to longer pitch counts that other teams by showing patience at the plate. Strasburg only struck out 7 Braves while he averaged 10 K's per game in his previous 4 starts. He also faced his first real trouble spot with bases loaded and no outs in the 6th inning. To be fair, he walked Chipper Jones and gave up a scorching single to Brian McCann but would have had a runner on third with two outs if the shortstop had made the play at short instead of booting the ball. The Braves being a better offensive team, were able to capitalize on the error by scoring 4 runs off of him, of which 3 were earned. Against the Mets he also not as effective by walking 3 and striking out 5 in 5 innings and giving up 2 runs, both earned.

These two starts were more impressive to me since he was able to pitch in and out of trouble and even though he didn't dominate, it showed that he was able to play under pressure in trouble situations. All pitchers get hit and many don't win games. All I wanted to see was how he performed in those situations and he showed me that he could. One last thing about Strasburg.

This whole drama about his not making the All-Star team is ridiculous. He is 2-2 in only 7 starts. There are pitchers that have 9 and 10 wins and did not make the roster. Those players would be more deserving that him at this point. Strasburg has more that enough years to make All-Star teams. Let him earn them as every one else.

FH

The Resurgent Seattle Mariners

Arguably this season biggest disappointment has to be the Seattle Mariners. Coming off a 101-loss season (61-101) in 2008, the Mariners went 85-77 in 2009 and entered the 2010 season with high expectations. The free-agent moves made by Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik only added to the high expectations. But as things are in the game of Baseball, often expectations are often unfulfilled. As of today, table setter Chone Figgins is batting .232 with only 32 runs scored and 22 stolen bases, cleanup hitter Milton Bradley is batting .207 with 7 Hrs, 27 RBI and 23 runs scored. These numbers are hardly what the Mariners expected for their investment. Not only that, I doubt anyone in Baseball (including myself) thought that the Seattle Mariners would have a record of 33-44 and be 14 games behind the first place Texas Rangers. But thanks to the team's strength, things are finally looking up for the Mariners.

Thanks to the one-two punch of Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, the Mariners are currently 10-5 in the last 15 games. In those 15 games, Lee and Hernandez are a combined 6-1 with 6 complete games (Lee is 3-0 in those games and Hernandez is 2-1). In a combined 62.2 innings, Lee and Hernandez have given up a total of 37 hits (6Hrs), 11 runs (10 Earned), 4 Walks and 44K's for an ERA of 1.45 and a WHIP of 0.59. This is what Seattle imagined as their pitching being like when they traded for Cliff Lee in the off-season.

The bats are slowly starting to wake up as well. In those last 15 games the Mariners have scored 52 runs including 7 runs in each of the last two wins against the Yankees. This was the first time this season that the Mariners have scored 7 runs in consecutive games.

Am I saying that here comes the big comeback in the A.L. West? Who knows. Remember in 2002 when the Oakland A's won 20-straight games, causing them to overtake the 1st place Mariners and win the division by 4-games with a 103-59 record? I'm not saying that this year's Seattle Mariners will win 20-straight games, catch the Rangers and win the division. What I am saying is that anything is possible, especially with two studs on the mound pitching in the manner that they are. An interesting question is, can the Mariners right the ship before the trading deadline? Cliff Lee is drawing a tremendous amount of interest throughout Baseball. Guess time will tell.

FH

This Weekend's Pitching Performances

The impressive year of the pitcher 2010 keeps getting better with some real good performances this weekend.

Ubaldo Jimenez
Colorado pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez beat the Minnesota Twins to improve to 13-1 which is the best start by a pitcher since Roger Clemens started 14-0 in 1986. In doing so, Jimenez lowered his ERA to 1.15.

Jimenez became only the second pitcher in the last 80 years to win at least 13 of his first 14 starts. Besides Clemens, Lefty Gomez went 13-1 for the Yankees in 1932

Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Straburg pitched 7 innings giving up 4 hits, 1 ER striking out 10 with no walks in a no decision against the Chicago White Sox. Strasburg lowered his ERA to 1.86 for the season in a much more impressive performance against a much more potent lineup than the Pirates and the Indians.

Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee beat the Cincinnati Reds on a complete game 1-0 shutout. In doing so, Lee earned his fifth career shutout and his 16th career complete game. Lee struck out seven in a six-hitter hurling just 110 pitches while lowering his ERA to 2.55. Lee has pitched at least seven innings in 10 of his 11 starts this season.

Phil Hughes/Mike Pelfrey
When Hughes and Pelfrey faced each other Saturday, they each had nine wins and a winning percentage of .900 or better. The only time in baseball history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, that two starters entered with better credentials was in 1900. Philadelphia's Bill Bernhard played host to Brooklyn's Joe McGinnity at the Baker Bowl. Both starters were 12-1.

Both pitchers played well with Hughes beating Pelfrey 5-3. Hughes held the Mets to three runs in seven innings Saturday to improve to 10-1 this season.

This victory leaves Hughes tied with David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays for most wins in the AL (David Price after Sunday's loss to the Florida Marlins is 10-3).

Jake Peavy
CG 2H. 2BB 7K's 1-0 against the Nationals

Colby Lewis
CG, 2H, 0 BB, 9K's 5-1 against the Astros

Jered Weaver
7.0IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 11K's against the Cubs

Hisanori Takahashi
6.0IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 3K's Yanks (12 shutout innings against the Yankees in two starts)

Felix Hernandez
CG, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 9K's against the Reds.

Josh Johnson
8.0IP, 6H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 9K's against David Price and the Rays. This was Johnson's 8th straight start where he allowed 1 run or less. During that time, Johnson has allowed 5 runs, 4 earned in 57 innings for an ERA of 0.63. Overall, his ERA for the season is 1.80.

C.C. Sabathia
8.0IP, 4 H, 0R, 2 BB, 6K's against Johan Santana and the Mets

Carl Pavano
CG, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K's against Roy Halladay and the Phillies

Talk about an impressive weekend for the pitchers. Wow.
FH

Big Baseball Day on 12-14-2009

So there was a tremendous amount of activity in the landscape of MLB. Here are my impressions of the important points:

The Philadelphia Phillies
It seems to me that the Phillies trade of Cliff Lee for Roy Halliday doesn't solve a thing for the Phillies. For arguments sake, why trade an ace who pitches superbly in Philadelphia. We see what he brings by how he shut down the Dodgers and the Yankees in the last postseason. Maybe by not including Cliff Lee in the deal it becomes an impossible transaction but if you're the Phillies GM, why not take the chance and spend the money to have 3 studs in your starting rotation. Not that the Phillies take a step back by trading Lee for Halliday. Realistically, it was believed that Lee wanted a contract similar to the amounts signed by C.C. Sabathia last season. The Phillies believe that starting pitching over 30 years of age should not be signed for more that 3 years. At 31 years of age, Lee wanting 5 to 6 years in a new contract would not be acceptable to the Phillies.

According to Jayson Stark on ESPN.com, The Phillies would receive Roy Halliday, who would agree to a 3-year extension through 2013, with a vesting option that could lengthen the deal by another year or two, one source said. The extension is expected to guarantee Halladay in the neighborhood of $60 million, plus the $15.75 million he would make in 2010, the final year of his current contract. In turn, the Phillies would send outfielder Michael Taylor, Phillies catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud and a Phils pitcher -- either Kyle Drabek or J.A. Happ -- to Toronto. To finalize the Lee deal with Seattle, the Phillies would receive they would receive Seattle's top pitching prospect, Phillippe Aumont and one other prospect -- believed to be 21-year-old outfielder Tyson Gillies.

The Seattle Mariners
The Mariners sure are making waves this offseason. By shedding 50 million in expiring contracts from the payroll and a determination to reinvest in the team, they show Felix Hernandez their commitment by trading for Cliff Lee and signing Chone Figgins. My prediction is that they will also sign Jason Bay, whose idol Edgar Martinez's name graces the street where Safeco Field is located. By making these moves, the Mariners with their perennial MVP, Ichiro Suzuki leapfrog the Angels as the favorites in the A.L. West. Maybe Ken Griffey Jr., changes his mind and comes back for one more year and a last chance at a ring.

The Boston Red Sox
Boston improves tremendously by signing John Lackey. By adding Lackey to their already formidable rotation of Josh Beckett, John Lester, Daisuke Matsusake, Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield the Red Sox remain in the top 3 of American League teams. The Red Sox also signed OF Mike Cameron to a 2-year deal. The big question for the Bosox is how do you replace Jason Bay. As I predicted, he'll be going to Seattle. By trading Mike Lowell to the Texas Rangers, 3B is opened for free agent Adrian Beltre. I think the best course of action for the Red Sox is to resign Bay, move Youkilis to 3B and sign Nick Johnson to platoon at 1B with Victor Martinez when he gets a breather from behind the plate. By Varitek taking his option, it muddled things up a bit since as Captain he'll get his fair share behind the plate. But Martinez is the catcher of the future for Boston. Depending on how Ortiz plays this year, maybe Varitek can DH more letting Martinez to get his playing time behind the plate.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
I have one thing to say to Arte Moreno, owner of the Angels. Que haces con su equipo hermano (What are you doing with your team brother). So you let Lackey, Figgins and Guerrero walk. You fail to trade for Halliday thereby falling to second best in the A.L. West. Where's the aggressiveness that allowed you to sign free agents in years past like Torii Hunter. I expected more from the Angels, but things are not all negative for the Angelinos. They resigned Bobby Abreu who was pivotal in their run into the ALCS. Also, rumor has it that the Angels will sign Hideki Matsui for 1 year 6.5 million dollars to replace Vlad at DH. At this stage of the game, I believe Matsui is a better hitter than Guerrero since he is a more disciplined batter. Vlad can still scare opposing pitchers but his skills are diminishing and so have the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim...