Posted on 11/13/2003 2:06:46 PM PST by doug from upland
Posted on Thu, Nov. 13, 2003
L.A. Dodgers' Gagne Wins Cy Young Award
RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first relief pitcher in 11 years to win a Cy Young Award, easily beating San Francisco's Jason Schmidt for the National League honor.
Gagne, who converted all 55 of his save opportunities, received 28 of 32 first-place votes and 146 points in balloting released Thursday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
It was just the ninth time a reliever won a Cy Young, the first in the NL since San Diego's Mark Davis in 1989.
"We haven't seen a lot of relievers win that award, so I was a little worried," Gagne said during a telephone conference call.
Schmidt was second with two first-place votes and 73 points. Chicago's Mark Prior got the other first-place votes and was third with 60 points.
Gagne, a 27-year-old right-hander, was 2-3 with a 1.20 ERA and had 137 strikeouts and 20 walks in 82 1-3 innings.
He was converted from a starter to a reliever after the 2001 season and had 52 saves in 2002.
"I knew I had the mental attitude to be a closer, it was just a matter of doing it in the major leagues," Gagne said. "As a starter, you have to be more relaxed, you have to control your emotions more."
He is the only pitcher to reach 50 saves in more than one season and has converted 62 consecutive save chances dating to 2002, a major league record.
"I don't really care about the streak," said Gagne, the first reliever to win a Cy Young since Oakland's Dennis Eckersley won the AL award in 1992.
He is just the second Canadian to win a Cy Young, following Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs in 1971. Gagne failed to hold a lead just once this season - he allowed a two-run, go-ahead homer to Hank Blalock of Texas in the eighth inning of the All-Star game. "For me, the All-Star game doesn't count," Gagne said.
Because he was 18 days shy of being eligible for arbitration and his contract was automatically renewed by the Dodgers in March, Gagne doesn't get a bonus added to his $550,000 salary.
He figures to earn $3.5 million or more next season. "I'm not bitter. That's the business side of it.
There's no hard feeling," Gagne said. "Now, it's going to be a different story."
Schmidt, 17-5 with a league-leading 2.34 ERA, gets $75,000 for finishing second.
Prior, 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA, gets $100,000 for winding up third. Prior, who is getting married Saturday, thought Gagne deserved to win.
"To do what he did and to not blow a save, especially in the situations he was put in, one-run games a lot of times, and to rattle off 50-some odd straight saves, is unbelievable," he said.
And Nothing for first. It's just a difference in their contracts. The bonuses are given by the teams not by Major League Baseball.
But for closers a pitcher who can be used in in almost half your games, in high-pressure situations, with nearly 100% effectiveness if you arent telling me that is invaluable, you dont understand the game. What manager wouldnt want such a powerful tool at his disposal?
Pretending starters cant be compared to closers, or pitchers to position players, is nonsense. Its like saying its impossible to compare a good hitting, iron-gloved right fielder to a cancer bat, Golden Gloved speedster right fielder. The relative merits of hitting, base running, fielding and yes, even pitching, CAN be compared, and for the writers making decisions MUST be compared, as per the rules of the various awards. Too often people get intimated because these comparisons are complex, multi-level and fuzzy. But to paraphrase some funny talking dead guy, We make these comparisons not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
Bless ya if youre still reading this. A couple real quick answers to the pitchers cant be MVP argument. One if we were picking teams, would you not chose a pitcher high in your wish list? If not, Id hope you were an opponent in my league. If so, does that not say something about how valuable pitchers are to you? But even more powerful and argument Two: If you played left field for the New York Yankees, they would still win games. Not as many, sure, but some. Even with you going 0 for every night, and dropping the Bad News Bears share of pop ups. They could still pull some victories out despite of you. Now if you pitched for the Yanks they would never, ever, EVER win a game. You would be 0 for life, assuming they kept you in long enough, which theyd have to for the purposes of the example. Theres a reason shortstops dont have win/loss records. If this doesnt show you some idea of relative worth, well then I cant help you.
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