Can Felix Hernandez win the Cy Young with a .500 record?

Most of the time the Cy Young goes hand in hand with the teams success. Not all the time but much of the time. I always remember Steve Carlton and his 27-10 record with the Phillies in 1972. The Phils that year only won 59 games I believe. The point I'm trying to make is that an 11-11 record won't cut it. Yes, his stats are worthy but his win-loss isn't. It's all about the bottom line. It's about winning!

I don't believe King Felix will win the Cy Young Award but he should.

Wins should be a a very small factor or have no impact at all. Often, it's out of the pitcher's control and in this case, it is because the Mariners can't hit. But here's the big thing: Felix is having a much better season than anyone in the AL. He is putting up the best stats of any pitcher by quite a bit. It's not even close and that's why he should win.

I think CC Sabathia will win if he can finish the year with an ERA under 3.00. Price and Bucholz can win too but I think Felix deserves it more than anyone else.

He should but he won't. Roy Halladay will probably get it for the NL and Sabathia probably will for the AL because he has more wins. Felix is a great pitcher and surely diserves the Cy Young, and would be leading the league in everything if he had a team like the Yankees. Nowadays Cy Young awards are given by Wins and W/L percentage, and if close enough strikeouts. Nolan Ryan still didn't get the Cy Young when he set a world record for strikeouts in a season, so I doubt Felix will get it for having a low ERA. I hope Felix gets traded to a high scoring team so his potential will be better known.

There is no way or should there be a Cy Young Awards Winner with a record like Felix has. The only pitchers that won with a .500 record or close to it were relievers and or/both! 2003 Eric Gagne LAD 2-3 (55 SV), 1989 Mark Davis SDP 4-3 (44 SV), 1987 Steve Bedrosian PHI 5-3 (40 SV), 1981 ALMVP also Rollie Fingers MIL 6-3 (28 SV), 1979 Bruce Sutter CHC 6-6 (37 SV), 1974 Mike Marshall LAD 15-12 (21 SV), A great pitcher finds ways to win even on bad teams!

In 1972 Gaylord Perry CLE 24-16 (1 SV) won the Cy Young on a 5th place team. He started 40 games, had decisions in all 40 and had a save, with 29 complete games. So 11-11 doesn't impress me and I don't thing it will impress the voters, Sorry! I live in Seattle area, but I still don't see him winning. Someone might vote for him, never say never!

He should, but the homer voters probably won't. I don't think he can with the record. Most voters seem to care a lot about that. He has enough Ws in my opinion.

Buchholz doesn't pitch enough innings per game. People say ERA is adjusted based on 9 innings. However, the fatigue factor is not accounted for. If a guy who pitchers 5 or 6 innings per start and has a low ERA versus a guy who goes 8 or 9 many times and has a low ERA, should not be counted in the same class. Buchholz is not in the Felix and CC class. He's just not.

Price has closed in on CC too although I think CC still has a slight edge there. Also, with Felix, he has had 5 no-decisions that should have been victories. His team really let him down in those games. When you are giving up 0 runs and 1 run or going 9 innings and giving up 2 runs, you should be winning. His team might just lose this award for him. And that's so sad.

I'd like to also point it, it's amazing a Closer can get the award for saves. Yet a starting pitcher has little control over having a lead. Even if they give up no runs there is no guarantee they will get the W. Unlike a Closer who comes in with the lead and controls the Save stat. Yes, the award is named after the man with the most career wins, however, as soon as they started giving the award to relief pitchers that was thrown out the window.

While we are doing a better job of getting word out to the voters that wins is an almost meaningless stat for determining how good a pitcher is, there is still much work to be done. Not to take anything away from CC - he's had a tremendous year - but if you are just measuring who has pitched better, Felix Hernandez is the guy.

Unfortunately, some voters will be impressed with CC's sexy win totals and give him their vote. And most likely, they'll be east coast voters who are usually in bed or very, very drunk by the time Felix does his pitching so they rarely get a chance to watch him to see how good he really is.

Tough question. I think Chaos got it.......if Felix finished with 3 wins....he could build voter support. However, if I'm managing Seattle, I'm not going to push that. Those 3 wins would be meaningless.

On Sabathia....he just came off an 8 inning 2 hitter. He will likely win 20 or 21 games, that should not be downplayed. He gets hit, because he works the strike zone at 92-93. I would point at the 20 wins, rather than the ERA.

Wins are the worst measure anyone can use to measure a pitcher - in a single season. There are too many variables which come into play. Voters should look at who has been DOMINATING. CC has not dominated. Lee has floundered seriously in a winning atmosphere. Buckholz and Cahill don't go deep enough in games to be considered dominate. King Felix is the one guy you don't want starting against you.

Do a simple elimination - who would you rather have start - CC or Felix? Felix. Hands down.

I'll still advocate for Wins on a career basis - good pitchers eventually have luck go their way. It's the law of averages. If you are good, you'll win more than you lose.

No way will he win the Cy Young on a last place team. Nolan Ryan played on a bunch of loser teams and he should've been a winner but never was. It's the same case scenario. King Felix is going to lose #12 on Friday night vs the Rangers. CC will win the CYA.

Well he didn't win it last year despite a 19-5 record, 217 strikeouts (compared to 214 this year), and a 2.49 ERA (2.39 in 2009). So his strikeouts and ERA numbers are almost identical but his record is much worse.

The winner last year was Zach Greinke who had an inferior record (16-8) but led the league in ERA with 2.16 and was second in strikeouts with 242. If he finishes at or slightly above .500 he won't win the award.

Felix has 3 or 4 starts left. If he can win 4 more games and Sabathia struggles then Hernandez could win it just like Greinke did last year. He'll need to be at least 14 and 11.

edit: Why do people think Felix pitches against easier teams? Is it because he pitches in the West and CC pitches in the East? Well, in 2010 Hernandez has 18 starts against teams over .500 and 13 starts against teams less than .500. By comparison Sabatha has 14 starts against teams over .500 and 17 starts against teams less than .500. Looks like Hernandez is the one that has to pitch against tougher teams.