Halladay Unanimous, Johnson Undervalued

The BBWAA announced that Roy Halladay picked up all 32 first place votes on his way to winning the National League Cy Young. Exactly zero people were surprised. Halladay was the perfect storm of shiny mainstream stats and nerdy advanced metrics. His 21 wins, nine complete games, four shutouts and 250.2 innings led the league. The 2.44 ERA was second, 3.01 FIP was third, 2.92 xFIP was first just like his 6.6 WAR. I had Halladay first on my ballot for the BBA where he also finished first unanimously.

So the right guy won and won running away but, as a blogger, it's my duty to find something to bitch about. I could complain about Brian Wilson and Heath Bell getting more voting love than Tim Lincecum but instead I'll just point out that nobody, including me, realized how good Josh Johnson was in 2010. I had him fourth on my ballot and that's where he finished in the BBA standings. The BBWAA had him fifth behind Halladay, Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez and Tim effing Hudson.

Really Johnson, Wainwright and Jimenez could have finished in any order after Halladay but Johnson didn't receive a single second place vote. I suppose the BBWAA reasoning was the same as mine. Johnson only pitched 183.2 innings which was 45 fewer than Hudson, 38 from Jimenez and 47 from Wainwright. Obviously that a pretty substantial gap in usage but he was brilliant when on the mound. His 2.30 ERA and 2.41 FIP were tops in the league and his 6.3 WAR was tied with Jimenez for second. If I had it to do over, I might have had Johnson second.

I guess this rant was more about Hudson who finished fourth due to his 17 wins and 2.83 ERA. Hudson's actual ERA should have been closer to his 4.09 FIP. Hudson was incredibly lucky thanks to a 2.50 BABIP and his 2.7 WAR ranked 29th among starting pitchers. I know I'm more obsessed with WAR than I should be but Hudson wasn't anywhere close to the top five pitchers in the NL.

Felt like I should have had more to complain about but I guess that will have to wait until Thursday when the AL Cy Young gets announced. That one is going to be filled with nonsense.

BBA NL Walter Johnson Ballot

Baseball's award season is upon us and we finally have a vote that counts for something this year. We're proud members of the Baseball Blogger Alliance and they've been kind enough to give us ballots. The only thing the BBWAA ever gave us was a sweet deal on caravan but the wheels fell off. Today we'll be unveiling our NL Walter Johnson ballot for pitcher of the year. Note: I completely ignored wins.

1. Roy Halladay
Halladay made his move to the National League from the AL East and dominated like everyone thought he would. The workhorse threw 250.2 innings for the Phillies and posted a 2.44/3.01/2.92 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) line or a 6.6 WAR if you prefer. His WAR, 2.93 SIERA and 7.30 K/BB ratio led all NL starters. Plus there was that no-hitter. World dominance, people, world dominance.

2. Adam Wainwright
The Cardinals pitcher was tremendous but there is still a pretty good gap between him and Halladay. Wainwright finished the year with a 2.42/2.86/3.14 line and a 3.13 SIERA. His 6.1 WAR was fourth behind my next two balloteers but it's more of a negligible difference plus he tossed that over 230.1 innings. Wainwright was another one of the regrettable pieces traded away by the Braves. He made a shade under $5 million but was worth about $24.6 million and is signed for the cheap next year with some favorable (for the Cardinals) options. Which is good because St. Louis is going to have to hand Albert Pujols the keys to the Arch soon to re-sign him. And yes, I assume the Arch is some kind of spaceship.

3. Ubaldo Jimenez
Jimenez jumped out to a big lead in wins and stats before the All Star Game but came crashing back down to Earth. He finished with a respectable 2.88/3.10/3.73 line and a 6.3 WAR all while battling hitter friendly Coors Field. I also just like saying the name "Ubaldo."

4. Josh Johnson
Johnson led the NL with a 2.30 ERA and a 2.41 FIP. He did toss fewer innings than anyone else on this list by a pretty healthy margin. Johnson threw 183.2 innings and the next closest in the guy I have fifth with 212.1 innings. But when Johnson was pitching, he was excellent. The 6.3 WAR and 3.07 SIERA were good for second in the League.

5. Tim Lincecum
"The Freak" won't win his third consecutive pitcher of the year award but that doesn't mean he didn't have another great season. Lincecum led the NL in strikeouts with 231 and tossed a 3.43/3.15/3.21 line over 212.1 innings. His 5.1 WAR accurately, according to me, placed him fifth among NL starters.

Shot Of The Night: Site News Edition

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Before we get to last night's shot, I have a little house cleaning to do. There might not be much posting this weekend. Both Derwood and myself will be away from the Internet for much of it. Derwood is in the process of moving into his new Atlanta mansion (I have dibs on the basement) and won't have the Internet for a few days. I'm attending a friend's all day birthday extravaganza which includes laser tag and Hooters. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's turning 13 again. So MTD is going to strap on the old booze bag and see what happens. My early prediction is that I get thrown out of laser tag and Hooters.

This might be the last post for a while so drink up. Last night's shot of the night was a Doc Holliday: 1 shot Jagermeister® herbal liqueur, 1 shot Jack Daniel's® Tennessee whiskey Single barrel, 1 shot orange juice, Dr. Pepper® soda. I always thought orange juice plus Jager were the ingredients for a "throwing up on a fire hydrant." Maybe that's just me. Anyway, it's in honor of Roy Halladay.

Halladay picked up only his 11th win of the season by tossing 8 innings of 5-hit, 1-walk shutout baseball. He struck out 9 and lowered his ERA to 2.28 for the year. Obviously, Ubaldo Jimenez has the shiny record and Josh Johnson has the ridiculous ERA but by season's end I'd still bet on Halladay being the best pitcher in the league. J.C. Romero also threw 7 pitches for the Phils last night. I felt you needed to know that.

Honorable Mention: Kelly Johnson
Johnson picked up the 3rd cycle of the season. Johnson actually hit his single in the 8th inning to complete the cycle which included a ground rule double. He was also hit by a pitch so he really reached base in 5 different ways.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Tonight's shot of the night is a Red Snapper: 1 oz Crown Royal Canadian whisky, 1 oz amaretto liqueur, 2 oz cranberry juice. I do enjoy the occasional Red Snapper or anything with Crown in it. There was an amazing pitching duel and then whatever the opposite of that is. Lets do some toasting. The honorees are Travis Wood and Roy Halladay.

Travis Wood gets the top billing tonight taking a perfect game into the 9th inning. I got to the party I was attending and put the game on just in time for Chooch to spoil both the perfect game and the no-hitter with a double. They don't call me Jinxy McGee for nothing. But the rookie Red pitcher was fantastic nonetheless in his third start. He went 9 innings and gave up just the one hit and zero runs. He also had 8 strikeouts to go with no walks to earn a no decision because he was pitching against...

Roy Halladay is never one to be outdone. Halladay went ahead and threw his usual 9 shutout innings to also earn a no decision. Halladay gave up 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. I'm not sure if anybody has noticed but Halladay's WAR (4.6) is higher than CY Young favorites Josh Johnson (4.4) and Ubaldo Jiminez (3.6).

Dishonorable Mention: Scott Kazmir

I'd have to check but I'm guessing this is the worst starting pitching line of the season. Kazmir went 5 miserable innings serving up 11 hits, 3 walks, 3 home runs and 13 earned runs. I'm convinced Scioscia left him out there in hopes Kazmir would spontaneously combust. I don't see anyway that the Angels can keep running Kazmir out there every 5 days. However it happened, he's done. It's painful to watch. I've seen pitching machines at batting cages have more success getting people out than Kazmir this year. Sure, maybe it was against me and perhaps I have some poor eye-hand but still...

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Tonight we're bringing back the Big Red: 1/2 oz Irish cream, 1/2 oz Goldschlager® cinnamon schnapps for the shot of the night, even though it's disgusting. And it's in honor of Joey Votto.

I detailed Joey Votto's All Star snub earlier and the kid backed me up today. Votto went 3-4 with 2 homers and 2 RBI to raise his slash line to .318/.418/.599. If you don't believe that he should be the starting first baseman for the NL, we can't be friends.

Omar Infante: 0-4, 2 strikeouts.

Honorable Mention: Roy Halladay
Halladay threw another complete game. His bullpen management is fantastic. Halladay gave up 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 7 and lowering his ERA to 2.33. Oh, he also only threw 93 pitches. I'm not sure he's human.