With just one week left before Opening Day, the writers that you find here at the Twins page of BaseballDigest.com will be making predictions on the 2009 season. We will start the week with some league-wide award predictions before diving into that playoffs. Later in the week, we will start making some Twins-specific predictions. So be sure to continue to check here throughout the week. Be sure to click on the writers’ name to learn more about each of them.
After making our MVP Predictions yesterday, we will attempt to predict the American League and National League Cy Young Award winners:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Seth Stohs – Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox
I think this will be the year that Matsuzaka puts it all together. Of course, his 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 2008 was pretty solid too. He just needs to walk less hitters. Runner Up – Jon Lester, Kevin Slowey.
Parker Hageman – Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays
Injuries have sidetracked him and kept him from living up to his billing but even when it was all said and done 12-8 in 27 starts while throwing 152 innings with 166 strikeouts and a 3.49 ERA was decent. Because 18-wins seems to be the magic number for starting pitcher who have won the AL Cy Young (the last winner with fewer than 18 was David Cone with 16 in the strike-shortened 1994 season), Kazmir has had problems reaching that considering his poor teams around him and his various ailments despite strong pitching performances. With a potent supporting cast in 2009 and a clean bill of health, the 28-year-old Kazmir has a good opportunity to obtain the prerequisite 18-win minimum.
Josh Johnson – Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
Nick Nelson – CC Sabathia, New York Yankees
I think he’ll break down eventually, but not this year, and he’ll get loads of run support.
John Meyer – Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
This kid is a fighter and the Red Sox are going to win a lot of games. Many of those will be credited to Lester.
Alex Halsted – Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
Halladay put up great numbers last season, and there is no reason to think he won’t do the same in ’09. A little help from his team and he may earn the award.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Seth Stohs – Johan Santana, New York Mets
The last time we heard of Santana having some arm issues before a season started was when he had bone chips removed from his elbow. That was before the 2004 season. He went on to win his first Cy Young Award. He could have won the NL version last year, so this year it will happen. Runner Up – Tim Lincecum, Ricky Nolasco.
Parker Hageman – Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks
Tim Lincecum was ridiculously amazing, striking out 28.5% of all batters faced and was the winning pitcher in a quarter of the Giants wins. It is hard to pass on that kind of emerging talent. However, Dan Haren led the NL with a 5.15 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, second in strikeouts (206) while holding the third lowest WHIP (1.130) and did not put nearly the same amount of pitches that Lincecum attached to his small frame. With the Baby Back maturing behind him, Haren should continue his dominance of the NL West.
Josh Johnson – Rich Harden, Chicago Cubs
Nick Nelson – Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros
One of the most under-appreciated pitchers in baseball.
John Meyer – Johan Santana, New York Mets
Now in his second year in the AAAA League, Santana will dominate all year en route to a 22-6 record.
Alex Halsted – Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
It’s hard to say who will really step up and earn the award in the NL, and while there is a good chance Lincecum has a little drop-off, he’s the safe choice.
Again it is now your turn. Make your pick. Leave your votes in the comments today, and we can always revisit them later in the season.
Topics: cc sabathia, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dan Haren, Johan Santana, Jon Lester, Rich Harden, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum
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[...] · Over at Baseball Digest, our Twins writers continued our predictions of the major baseball awards. The series continued today with our predictions for the Cy Young Awards. [...]
Interesting to see the diversity of our predictions. Goes to show how hard it is to predict Cy Young winners… Cliff Lee! I’m sure we will all be wrong, but it’s great to see all these awesome young pitchers in the game today.
I like Halladay a lot but I’ve been telling people to watch out for John Lester. I really thought I’d be “unique” picking him as my AL CY winner, but now all I can do is say I agree with John.
I have to go with Lincecum in the NL. I think the Giants will score more runs this year and that should generate a few extra wins… which we all know are all that matters with the CY voters, right?
Scott Kazmir is only 25. Just wanted to throw that out there.
Halladay or Greinke will take it in the AL.
Cain or Lincecum will win it in the NL.