I’ll be on ESPNEWS via phone just after the 2 pm announcement of the NL Cy Young award.
My notes column is up, leading off with a look at the reliever market and ending with a few lines on last night’s Top Chef episode.
I’m not sure I’ll get it done for tomorrow, but I’m hoping to have the Klaw 100 update ready for the morning.
The comment section for the Cy Young piece is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qm0KUPeD8.
I want to respond to those idiots, but it would be useless.
Also, I was listening to sports talk radio (WFAN) and the host called you out by name. He said something along the lines of:
“And here’s Keith Law leaving Carpenter off the ballot, and he’s got a column up on espn explaining. You’re gonna give me all this sabermetric stuff? C’mon? Javy Vasquez is not one of the best 3 pitchers in baseball. You’re gonna vote for him for 28 innings? C’mon. You’re gonna use all this sabermetric stuff?”
So he actually read the column obviously, and he still doesn’t understand why you voted for Vasquez. I’m flabbergasted by the reaction your vote has had.
So is pitching to your defense not good? I seem to recall a certain pitcher named Koufax who went from power pitching to pitching to contact and became a legend.
Just saying.
How many blown starts did Mary Jane have? Carp? Wain? Vazquez?
The best 2 pitchers in the NL this year were Wainwright and Carp.
Great thing about math is … you really can manipulate the data to serve whatever side of the fence you are on.
From STLToday.com in a piece by Joe Strauss:
Law described Lincecum as “clearly above everybody else.”
===========================================
You, Keith, are clearly below most sportswriters. You need attention, and you made a sham out of your vote by not including Carpenter in the top three. I hope they take away your voting privileges next year.
You have some big stones Keith. I’m glad you voted the way you did. Since you are using more advanced baseball metrics, does this mean we can expect a Ben Zobrist vote for AL MVP? Perhaps second behind Joe Mauer.
Keith,
While I read three times your arguement against voting for Carpenter, I really cannot take your side at all in this. I recognize that some feel the need to display statistics that back up their perspective but going back to read your columns, I cannot find more than two instances where you had much positive to say about the Cardinals. Cardinal fans remember those kinds of things and take this team very seriously. This was just another instance that gives Cardinal fans a reason to distrust you and dismiss you. Honestly, not voting Carpenter as one of the top three pitchers in the National League, makes me seriously question your opinions on other baseball matter and reduce you to a status of nothing more than we are; people that express our opinions as fans and nothing more.
Keith does not have an MVP vote, btw. Only had a NL Cy vote this year.
Here is a good argument for Vazquez, he beat Carpenter in both RAR (Runs above Replacement) and WAR (Wins above Replacement) this year.
The comments about my MVP ballot are telling. Anyone who brings that up is clearly not a regular reader, since I’ve said more than once that I don’t have an MVP ballot, AND I listed my hypothetical ballot a week ago in a blog entry.
At this point I think people are piling on Keith just because it’s chic.
But really this whole thing was a perfect storm.
1) There was a nearly universal agreement that the top 3 were Lincecum/Wainwright/Carpenter.
2) There were legitimate reasons to disagree with that.
3) Keith had a CY vote this year.
Chris Carpenter = George Clooney.
Must have missed your hypothetical ballot. I’m not sure what it is telling you that I didn’t know if you had an AL MVP vote.
This is all fine, but the more important question is are you going to stop spoiling Top Chef on ESPN????
Cardinal fans never seem to complain when media members generalize about them being the most-knowledgeable and/or best fans in America (untrue). . .yet they sure seem to get hot under the color when genralizations (based upon hundreds of underinformed-ignorant postings here and on espn) are made about their inability to understand basic, meaningful statistics and their multitude of complants about the use of same.
Keith, Cardinal fan here. Don’t worry about it, you voted with your conscience and you live with it. Don’t stereotype all Card fans as homophobic morons, they are just passionate and somewhat insecure because of the coastal bias. The reality is the Giants will now have to pony up some big bucks in arbitration for Lincecum, which he deserves. It will be interesting to see how it affects their pursuit of a big bat. Keep stirrin’ it up, bud.
realski: I know not all Cardinal fans are morons; I’m only hearing from the fringe. But the Cardinal fringe has been, in my experience, worse than any fringe, and that includes the Phillies’, Yankees’, and Red Sox’ fan bases.
Keith, does that mean we fringe Sox fans should be trying harder?
“Keith, does that mean we fringe Sox fans should be trying harder?”
More pop culture references and NHL bandwagon jumping. Get on it.
Keith, love your work but it seems logically inconsistent to pick Vazquez over Wainwright on the strength of WAR and defense but not Verlander over Hernandez on your hypothetical AL ballot when the WAR and DER gaps are even larger.
Keith,
Sorry to see you take so much heat for having a fact-based, rational opinion. Especially from the “best fans in baseball.” I’m also wondering if Carpenter cares as much as these guys…
On another less controversial topic, I’ve read your take on a salary cap in the game and I agree wholeheartedly. But what about the contention that owners assume the risk of owning the team, paying the salaries, engaging in monstrous financial commitments — why shouldn’t they recognize a larger portion of the revenue? While players risk injury, the owners risk financial ruin. Not saying I agree with this, but just playing devil’s advocate.
Anyway, enjoy your work and hope the daily blog run-downs become routine. Thanks.
“Aaron, I realize that but you are taking wins for granite.”
Granite? Wow. And this guy called you an idiot? I don’t know if you caught this, Klaw, but I almost rolled on the floor when I read this.
As a Cardinal fan, I have no problem with Lincecum winning the Cy Young, and I have no problem with the use of any relevant statistics to inform an opinion.
However, what I find interesting is that apparently all but two of the NL Cy Young voters (Carroll and Law) figured out that this was a three horse race, period, and I’m sure that many of them are equally well-versed in the available statistical evidence. That said, it does not seem beyond the pale to question whether a choice to deviate from the near consensus three top choices does not contain an element of just trying to get attention.
Sometimes, it really is OK to color within the lines.
Matt,
“Figured out”… or “decided”?
keith – lincecum is a good choice. carp was great, but innings are innings.
also, kevin has won 5 elimination challenges – it HAS been the food, not just that he seems like a nice fellow. some of the other chefs may have more skill (really jennifer is the ceiling prospect albeit dicey probability) but not by much – and kevin has done nor more than deliver food each week the judges have been wowed by. definitely a cleanup hitter.
Didn’t Keith call the Cardinals the “organization of the decade” for the NL in a recent chat?