It is true that the Cy Young Award is not purely to go to an MVP, most valuable pitcher. But value, in terms of what you mean to your teams ultimate success, should be a part of that.
In that context, Sabathia as a terrific stopper-type ace in the middle of a hot pennant race in a tough city is more valuable to his franchise. His performance may get the Yankees to the WS. Felix's may get the M's to avoid losing 102 games. Felix's is clearly the "better" year if you look at the "pure" pitching things he can control. But (and here's the best pitcher comparison I can think of) it's not a Steve Carlton-'72 type of year. Carlton played for the worst team in the league that year, won 50% of their games, started 41 times and finished them 30 times..and threw 8 SHO's. Oh..he threw 346 innings. his OPS+ was only slightly better than Felix's (182-175) but the other numbers suggest a truly deserving guy. Felix would need, I think, that kind of performance to win.
Most Valuable Player: In 1979, 39-yr old Willie Stargell (of the "We are Family" Pirates) co shared the MVP with Keith Hernandez. Check it out, Hernandez had the clearly better year. Dave Winfield, who finished 3rd in the voting had a better year than Stargell. Larry Parrish, 4th in the balloting, was arguably better. Heck, Dave Kingman and Mike Schmidt, whot finished 11th and 13th in the voting had better years! They were all "Better" ballplayers. But they were not "more valuable" in the context of their teams success and their part in it. The Bucs won the LCS and the World Series. they were a renowned "family-type" bunch (see Mariners '09). Papa Stargell had that team together...and put uup some pretty good numbers. his team won the prize and he was the still-producing glue that got them there. He deserved it. He was "most valuable" to the great success his team achieved. Winning surely counts in that award. It should be a consideration of some degree in this award, too.
The Cy Young award can not be purely numbers (SABR) based. If you had a pitcher who started and threw 1 1/3 innings in each game and never gave up a run, he would throw 210 innings with an ERA of 0.00! Would he be a better pitcher than a guy who won 20 games with an ERA of 2.00 and pitched deep into most of his starts for a pennant winner? Certainly not. Ask any baseball guy. Which starter would you rather have. the first guy or the guy who gets you into the 7th inning+ in 25 of his 3 starts with a very low ERA. SABR type numbers can't always rule.
Felix is the best pitcher in the game. Check out the numbers of his last two seasons and look how amazing consistent(and outstanding) they are. But if Sabathhia finishes strongly..he should nose out Felix for the award.
BTW, with all the kinesthetic talk around here, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Felix's quasi-Luuis Tiant, turn your back delivery. Some insight on whether that reduces arm stress would be interesting.
moe
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