After two days of voting, I’m calling an end to the AL Cy Young vote. (You can still vote if you really want to, though.)
Personally, I voted for CC and would consider these guys the other top candidates: Beckett, Fausto, Santana, Lackey, Bedard. I use FIP instead of ERA (to account for fielding), subtract from replacement level, and multiply by number of innings. But I’m not married to that as much as I am most other statgeeky methods. The race is so close this year and there are multiple reasonable ways to vote. Do you give more credit for K’s because the pitcher got the out without the help of fielders? How much credit do you give for innings? Do you compare pitchers to replacement level or league-average? Do you give relievers credit for actual leverage or the leverage they deserve based on how good they are? How much do you account for fielder and park effects? Do you consider HR/FB luck or skill? The list goes on.
I’m shocked Wang got so much support and Bedard didn’t grab a single vote. I think he was the best per-inning pitcher for the season. Dan Haren should have flip-flopped his two halves.
NL MVP might be more wide open than the AL Cy Young award (for which you can still vote). Just in case you don’t know the rules, we’re using approval voting — feel free to vote for as many players as you deem worthy. Candidates were taken from the top VORP contributors, plus a few top starters and a few top relievers, and finally a couple other names I’ve seen thrown around these discussions. The only reason I haven’t listed every NL player is that I don’t have the time and it would be annoying for you. Feel free to share who you voted for in the comments.
Yes, you can vote for as many players as you approve of being the 2007 NL MVP.
If you’ve voted in any of the polls over the past few days, you noticed I’m using approval voting instead of plurality voting. The difference can be summed up as “one vote per candidate instead of one vote per voter.” But what are the advantages of approval voting?
The big one is that the winner of an approval vote is likely more popular than a winner of a straight plurality. It leaves open the option of a candidate that’s liked by many, even though he might loved by only a few. For people who want a viable third-party in the U.S., approval voting is the easiest, fastest way to bring that about.
There are other voting systems that accomplish something similar, such as ranked ballots, run-off voting, and match-up voting, but approval voting has the additional benefit of being quick, extremely similar to the system we’re used to, and not affected by ballot manipulation.
Voting theory is a cool topic, one that I discussed in the class I created and taught to 12th graders. For more information and helpful examples, here are some good sites:
Ok, choose your favorite Cy Young winner in the American League. Nominees include anybody in the top 10 of Hardball Times’ pitching runs created, ERA, FIP, xFIP, or top five in WPA. PollDaddy automatically randomizes the list for each reader. Since we’re using approval voting, pick as many winners as you’d like. That’s right…
You can vote for as many candidates as you deem worthy of winning the award.
Update: Due to request, I’ve also included the top 10 pitchers based on wins. After you’ve voted, see comments for more info.
Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.