Arizona’s Brandon Webb Wins NL 2006 Cy Young Award…
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Arizona Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb walked away with Cy Young Award honors for the 2006 season. Webb polled first with a total of 103 votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He was followed by San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman with 77 votes and World Champion St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter with 63 votes. Trailing by a distance in 4th place was Houston Astros starter Roy Oswalt with 31 votes.
Frankly, based on the won/loss records and stats of Webb, Carpenter and Oswalt, a much closer race should have been expected. Once again, as with the NL Rookie of the Year Honors, the stats of these three pitchers was too close to call, although it looked as though Carpenter rated a slight edge. One would have thought that Carpenter would have won for the 2nd straight year based on both regular season performance and on his fine post-season.
However, perhaps Webb won the award by virtue of improvement over the last 3 seasons.
The AP post on the Sports Illustrated site says the following about Webb;
“I think it’s an honor well deserved. There was some concern that his last start would have an effect on the voting,” Diamondbacks pitching coach Bryan Price said. “One start doesn’t make or break a season.”
One of the biggest keys in Webb’s development has been his ability to control his deceptive sinker, which helps him induce one harmless groundball after another when he’s on top of his game.
After a strong rookie season in 2003, the right-hander walked a major league-high 119 batters the following year for a terrible Arizona team that went 51-111. Webb also led the NL with 16 losses and 17 wild pitches that year.
But he cut his walks in half in 2005 and issued a career-low 50 free passes this year. And he got more help from Arizona’s much-improved infield defense.
“Basically, I just tried to do what I’ve done the last three years, which is throw a lot of sinkers,” Webb said. “Early in my career, even in the minor leagues, if I had a bad inning or something went wrong I’d show emotion out there and let that get to me. Every year, I’ve tried to improve on that.”
Webb agreed to a $19.5 million, four-year contract with Arizona in January. For winning the Cy Young Award, the buyout of his $8.5 million option in 2010 doubles from $500,000 to $1 million.
“When you look at No. 1s in baseball, and every team has one, a legitimate No. 1 will look like Brandon Webb,” Price said. “He replaces the strikeout with the double play. That defines a No. 1 pitcher in the big leagues to me.”
For the life of me though, I can’t understand Trevor Hoffman’s 2nd place finish in the voting.
The same AP post on the Sports Illustrated site says this about Hoffman;
The 39-year-old Hoffman finished with a league-leading 46 saves in 51 chances for the Padres. He has 482 career saves, breaking Lee Smith’s previous mark of 478.
Hoffman went 0-2 with a 2.14 ERA in 63 innings spanning 65 appearances. He was listed second on three ballots and third on eight.
Hoffman also was a Cy Young Award runner-up in 1998 to Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves.
Carpenter and Hoffman each receive a $50,000 bonus for finishing high in the voting.
But despite Hoffman’s impressive stats; 65 games, 63 innings pitched, 16 runs allowed, 15 earned runs, 50 SO, 13 Walks, 2.14 ERA and 46 Saves, he folded big-time at several crucial junctures during the season costing both the NL All Stars and the Padres throughout the 2nd half of the season and during the stretch drive for the NL wild card berth; notably his part in giving up 2 homers on 2 consecutive pitches against the Dodgers in their now-famous and record-tying feat of 4 consecutive homers in the 9th inning in defeating the Padres in 10 innings. Ultimately, the Padres made the NL wild card berth despite Hoffman’s folds.
In my opinion, Trevor Hoffman was not worthy of 2nd place in the Cy Young balloting and the $50,000 bonus for finishing high in the voting. 2nd place would have better been awarded to Carpenter, Oswalt or the Mets closer Billy Wagner.
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