And the winner is… ZACK GREINKE!
Honestly, there isn’t too much of a surprise there. Greinke had an unbelievable year for the Royals. He went 16-8 with a god awful team, posted a stellar 2.16 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and struck out 242 men (9.5 K/9). He was by far and away the best pitcher in the AL, and probably the game. Heck, he had one of the best seasons for a pitcher in recent memory. According to ESPN.com, Greinke’s ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro “Who’s Your Daddy” Martinez put up an obscene 1.74. Here’s a fun little stat. According to Fangraphs, Greinke was worth 42.4 million dollars this season, but he was only paid 3.75 mil. The Royals certainly got their money’s worth…
King Felix Hernandez followed Greinke in second place, and he had a great season as well. He gave Greinke a run for his money, but I still think 2nd place is right where to put him. He had 19 wins to only 5 losses, posted an ERA of 2.49, and struck out 217 guys. Fangraphs says he was worth 31.2 mil, but he only got paid 3.8 mil. It’s great to see these young pitchers playing such good baseball.
After Felix came Justin Verlander, then the Jolly one and World Series champ himself CC Sabathia, and lastly came Roy Halladay. There really weren’t too many surprises with the Cy Young decision. Congrats to Greinke.
