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The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the 3rd of their big 4 awards tonight, the Cy Young.
Rays' ace left-hander David Price (20-5, 2.56 ERA) won the AL Cy Young Award over 2011 winner Justin Verlander (17-8, 2.64) in the 2nd closest vote in BBWAA history. Price had 153 points to Verlander's 149. The only closer vote was in 1969, when the Tigers' Denny McClain and the Orioles' Mike Cuellar tied in the voting, sharing the award.
Jered Weaver of the Angels received 70 points to take 3rd. The top 5 was rounded out by the Mariners' Felix Hernandez and Rays closer Fernando Rodney.
Price is the first Ray to win a Cy Young. Verlander is the 7th Cy Young Award winner to be the runner-up finisher the following season.
The difference in the voting came down to a pair of factors.
There's an accredited baseball writer who believes a closer is more valuable than either Price or Verlander, and gave the Rays' Fernando Rodney a 1st place vote. That's a head-scratcher.
Actually, it's complete idiocy.
The other factor in the race was the Los Angeles voting contingent being the only writers to give Weaver 2nd place votes, placing Verlander 3rd on both their ballots. This is nothing new, BBWAA homer voting has happened in the past. (Such as the Detroit writers both placing Magglio Ordonez first on their MVP ballots, denying Alex Rodriguez a unanimous win in 2007)
Thus, Price is the 2012 AL Cy Young.
As disappointing as it is to see Verlander lose, Price is a very deserving winner. As for the voting...I'm at a loss.
Rodney got a first place vote. A-freaking-mazing.
AL Cy Young Award voting: (Click here to see each writer's ballot)
| David Price, Rays | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 153 |
| Justin Verlander, Tigers | 13 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 149 |
| Jered Weaver, Angels | 2 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 70 | |
| Felix Hernandez, Mariners | 5 | 10 | 6 | 41 | ||
| Fernando Rodney, Rays | 1 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 38 | |
| Chris Sale, White Sox | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | ||
| Jim Johnson, Orioles | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| Matt Harrison, Rangers | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Yu Darvish, Rangers | 1 | 1 |
The NL voting was not nearly as close of a race. Mets knuckle baller R.A. Dickey (20-6, 2.73 ERA) received 27 of 32 first place votes to easily take the Cy Young over 2011 winner Clayton Kershaw (14-4, 2.53) of the Dodgers, 209-96.
Dickey is the 5th Met to win the Cy Young, Kershaw is the 8th Cy Young Award winner to be the runner-up finisher the following season.
The top 5 was rounded out by Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals, Johnny Cueto, Reds and Craig Kimbrel, Braves. Each received a first place vote.
NL Cy Young Award voting: (Click here to see each writer's ballot)
| R.A. Dickey, Mets | 27 | 5 | 209 | |||
| Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers | 2 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 96 |
| Gio Gonzalez, Nationals | 1 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 96 |
| Johnny Cueto, Reds | 1 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 75 |
| Craig Kimbrel, Braves | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 41 |
| Matt Cain, Giants | 1 | 6 | 7 | 42 | ||
| Kyle Lohse, Cardinals | 2 | 2 | 6 | |||
| Aroldis Chapman, Reds | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Cole Hamels, Phillies | 1 | 1 | 2 |
There's one big award remaining. The MVP will be announced Thursday night. Think the AL Cy Young voting was controversial? You ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait for tomorrow's AL MVP results.
2012 BBWAA award winners:
Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout (Angels), Bryce Harper (Nationals)
Manager of the Year: Bob Melvin (Athletics), Davey Johnson (Nationals)
Cy Young: David Price (Rays), R.A. Dickey (Mets)
Most Valuable Player: TBA Thursday