Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Title: Is Roy Halladay the 2009 Cy Young Winner?
Date: October 1, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: I put homerism aside to try and judge the 2009 AL Cy Young race between Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, and Zack Greinke.

Most Blue jay fans probably don’t realize that the team is still playing right now. For those that do, they would have witnessed (or at least known about) two phenomenal starts from Roy Halladay down the stretch.

On September 25, in what may be his last start at Rogers’ Center as a Jay, Halladay spun a gem against the Mariners, to the tune of 9IP, 0ER, 7H, 0BB, 9K. It was a complete game domination we have come to expect, though that doesn’t make it any less spectacular.

On September 30 at Boston, in what may be his last start as a Jay, period, Halladay shut down a potent Red Sox lineup, posting a mesmerizing 9IP, 0ER, 3H, 2BB, 6K. Again, complete dominance we have come to expect and take for granted.

While many are hopeful that these won’t be his last starts as a Blue Jay, it would be a fitting way to end a 12-year tenure where he has set franchise records in almost everything. His career line stands at 148-76 over 313 appearances (287 starts), 1.20 WHIP, .255 AVG against, 3.43 ERA, 1495 K, 2046.2 IP, 49 complete games, and 15 shutouts.

Arguing Halladay as one of the best pitchers of all time is an article for another day, and his place as the Greatest Blue Jay Ever is simply not up for debate. What he has brought to the franchise and the city is one of those unspeakable experiences being sports fans affords us; we can not describe it to a non-Jay fan, but every one of us will somehow hurt if he leaves the team this offseason.

But this piece isn’t meant to be a pre-emptive goodbye or reminiscing. Instead, the point of this article is to posit one more time a debate that Jays’ fans have argued for a decade now:

Be it resolved that Roy Halladay should be the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner.

His numbers alone create the basis for the argument, so my introduction need only be the following: 17-10 (on a 75-84 team) in 32 starts, 239 IP, 208:35 K:BB ratio, 1.13 WHIP, 2.79 ERA. It was a masterful season, even by Roy’s standards. The ERA was the third best of his career, he set a career high in strikeouts, tied a career high with nine complete games, and set a personal best with four shutouts.

He would clearly be a deserving recipient. However, just like in 2008, another pitcher looms ready to take Roy’s second Cy Young Award. Last year, Halladay was robbed by Cliff Lee because people couldn’t look past surface stats (especially wins) to see that Halladay was the better pitcher, to the tune of an extra 0.3 Wins Above Replacement (Halladay lead the AL, and nobody was close to him and Lee).

This year, however, Halladay’s “peripheral” argument isn’t as strong as last year. As it is, despite having a statistically equivalent season to 2008 (7.5 WAR this year to 7.6 WAR in 2008), the presence of several other stud pitchers clouds the situation.

Justin Verlander slightly outpaced Halladay with a 7.9 WAR, and voters will surely like the team success factor, as well as Verlander’s league-leading 264 strikeouts.

Felix Hernandez is a less heralded and slightly less deserving albatross who could be aided by his youth (a 23-year old winner!), his strikeouts (211), his sparkling 18-5 Won-Loss record, and how much fun he is to watch work. Still, at 6.6 WAR, King Felix would be an undeserving champion.

Personally, I’d rank Halladay just ahead of Verlander, WAR be damned, if for no other reason than Halladay’s impressive complete games (9-3) and shutouts (4-1) leads (with a little bit of homerism mixed in, of course).

However, I can’t crown Halladay the Cy Young winner, as much as I’d like to. It seems, through 12 years with the Jays, 10 as a full-time contributor, Halladay will leave with just one Cy Young award, despite having a WAR greater than 5.5 six times in the last eight years. Unfortunately, Zach Greinke is a veritable lock to win the Cy Young Award this year.

It’s a great story, too, for everyone but Jays’ fans. I’d love to usher Doc off with another trophy, but the 25-year old fireballing phenom from the Royals has been an absolute monster in 2009. Greinke, overcoming a serious social disorder to once again enjoy baseball, has dominated every hitter in his wake this year. His WAR of 9.1 dwarfs everyone else in the AL. He lead the AL in ERA (2.06) and WHIP (1.07), was second in complete games (6), shutouts (3), strikeouts (237), fifth in IP (223.1), and edged everyone but Halladay in xFIP (basically ‘luck free’ ERA) with a mark of 3.33 (Halladay lead at 3.24). The only blemishes on Greinke’s resume are his 16-8 record (not his fault), and the relative obscurity his incredible season existed in.

Sorry Jays fans…it’d be nice to send Halladay on his way (or preferably, welcome him back) with another Cy Young on his mantle, but just like in many years past, Halladay will come up just short.

And it sucks…because, well, being a ”top-5 vote getter for the award five times in seven years” just doesn’t do Halladay’s Jays tenure justice.

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