Today we'll look at the NL Cy Young Award and who I voted for:
1. Tim Lincecum - Giants
Lincecum has a case for NL MVP, not just Cy Young Award. His 8.2 WAR is the second highest total in the NL behind Albert Pujols. He's first in the NL in strikeouts, second in ERA, and first in FIP. It's a shame he only won 15 games on the year because that could prevent him from winning an award that should be his.
2. Chris Carpenter - Cardinals
The NL ERA leader, 23 of his 28 starts were quality starts, and he allowed more than 3 runs in a start just 3 times. Despite missing nearly a month of the season, he threw over 190 innings on the season, mainly because he only failed to reach 6 innings 4 times, one of which was his last start before the playoffs when TLR was saving him. His 17-4 record and ERA title are going to attract a lot of BBWA votes, but his missed time and fewer strikeouts left him nearly 2.5 WAR behind Lincecum, which is why he falls short here.
3. Javier Vazquez - Braves
Things you may not realize about Vazquez - he was second in the NL in WAR for pitchers (6.6 WAR). He was second in the NL in strikeouts at 238. He was second in the NL in strikeouts per walk (5.41). He was second in the NL in FIP (2.77). You could make an argument that he deserves to be second on this list, but I think Carpenter did a bit more to deserve the vote (Carpenter's WPA was 5.41 to Vazquez's 2.41).
Dan Haren also has a case to be on this list, but I think Carpenter's numbers were too good to ignore.