Larry Stone of the Seattle Times notes that a number of influential voices around Major League Baseball are starting to push for Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez to win the American League Cy Young Award.
Having the stamp of approval from respected writers like Ken Rosenthal (FOX) and Buster Olney (ESPN) might make Hernandez more palatable to someone who is having trouble getting past the 12-12 record. But my survey last week of actual voters led me to believe that most are already very open-minded to Hernandez despite his record. In fact, I'm actually starting to get the sense that Hernandez has a good shot to win, even with a .500 record and so few victories.
Rosenthal writes today : "The award is not for Most Valuable Pitcher or best pitcher for a contending team. It is for best pitcher, period. And this season, Hernandez is that guy."
And Olney chimes in with his ranking of the Cy Young race as of today: 1) Hernandez; 2) C.C. Sabathia; 3)David Price.
As we've noted previously: we think voters should give the Cy Young to Felix Hernandez and call it good.