Cy Young Baseball Awards for 2009

It sure took a long time for the Cy Young awards to be announced this year. Baseball awards have become politicized and complicated over the years, but I don't understand the delays in announcing winners this time.

Zack Greinke really didn't have a whole lot of competition in the American League. I think everyone knew he would be the winner for most of the season, even though the San Francisco Giants weren't top contenders for league standings.

The National League is another story again. Controversy continues to swirl around the validity of Tim Linceum winning for the second time in a row.The Kansas City Royals pitcher had only 15 wins for the season, the lowest of any Cy Young award winner in league history.

So how did all this come about? Why was AL winner Zack Greinke announced on Tuesday, but NL winner Tim Linceum not until Thursday? The voting was complete before the World Series. In fact I read an article about who the winners were even before the Series was played and wondered how the writer knew. So why the late announcements?

Controversy over Tim Linceum I can understand. He's called The Freak supposedly because of his awkward stride, but it may also have something to do with other factors. The guy still hasn't resolved the marijuana charges against him from October and that concerns me.

I have no problem with Greinke, and like I said, he really didn't have much competition in the AL. Sure, he got ejected from a game in September, but he was sticking up for his teammate from the dugout.

But Linceum I really don't understand. Now, I get it about how the number of games won is not the only factor of consideration in determining who the Cy Young award winner will be. There are the considerations of complete games, contrast between walks plus hits allowed per inning, even the elusive "fielding independent pitching" stats that only a mathematician could comprehend. But Linceum's stats still don't give him an overwhelming advantage.

I think the main reason he won was because of the St. Louis Cardinals having sewn up second and third place contenders' places. Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are phenomenal pitchers. If they didn't both play for the Cardinals, I feel sure either one would have won the NL Cy Young award for 2009. In fact it seems Wainwright had 12 votes for 1^st place, more than any other contender, but when all the other factors were considered, Linceum still won the 2009 Cy Young NL award.

I really think the fact that both Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright play for St. Louis caused a split in votes, which led to the award being given to Tim Linceum.

Let's face it, baseball has become such a big business over the last few decades that much of the honor of the game from the era of Cy Young has been lost. It used to be that players like Cy Young, who lived mostly in near poverty after leaving baseball, wanted to play the game for the sake of the game. I'm not saying that players who invest everything for the chance to make it to the big leagues shouldn't receive a wonderful salary, but there just doesn't seem to be the same dedication to team effort and the glory of the sport itself as there once was.

So congratulations are in order for both Greinke and Linceum, but I'm a bit nostalgic for the old days.