Did Papelbon just blow chance at ROTY?

[Rdsxmbnt]

With Liriano gone for a while, it appeared that Papelbon would have a chance to lock up the award coming down the stretch. But he allowed 2 ER in one game and that nearly doubled his ERA, so he went from potential best relief season ever to really good season. But the problem with that is that Papelbon had to pitch historically good to beat Liriano, but with Liriano potentially out of the picture theres the other canidate, Verlander. So it depends, Verlander is 2nd in the league behind Liriano in ERA and tied for 1st in wins (which voters love), but will they pick Papelbon over him now that Papelbon doesnt have that .55 ERA going for him? I sure hope so, but this outing severly hurts his chances most likely and its unreasonable to think hes not going to allow a single run over the course of the entire season, so his ERA should stay around 1.00 or so. Thoughts on the new twist of events in the race?

[elsrbueno]

One appearance NEVER makes a season in my book.

 

He has an uphill battle to winning ROY just because he's up against Liriano and Verlander to begin with whose contributions are so much greater than Papelbon's because they pitch a lot more innings.

 

In the end, people should realize that the difference between a .47 ERA and a .98 (whatever his numbers are right now) is ONE outing where he gave up 2 runs.

 

If I had to vote a week ago for ROY it would be a battle between Verlander and Liriano anyway because closers just aren't as important IMO as starters. I don't think he blew his chance at winning the award having one bad outing though. Anyone who favored Papelbon still sees his SICK

[Commander Shears]

Rookies who win 20 games and lead the league in ERA while pitiching for the best team in baseball tend to get some votes (outside the bubble that is Boston, mind you). That said, let's ignore Verlander & Liriano for a second.

 

ERA is hardly the most important stat for a closer. Just to play devil's advocate, let's not forget that Jenks is still technically a rookie, as well. Papelbon crushes him in ERA, hits, walks, etc, yeah yeah yeah, because he's the better pitcher. But at the end of the day:

 

Jenks; 30 S 2 BS

Paps; 30 S 5 BS

 

Papelbon also converted his first 20 save opportunities, which means he has blown five of his last fifteen chances. Awards usually go to guys who turn it on in the stretch, not fade (or come back to reality, as the case may be).

 

Yeah, he's a stud and it's mainly because he seems to only inherit one-run leads, never gets those cushy three-run specials, he's the best pitcher among closers, and he's having an insane year. Agreed, but he is not Rookie of the Year. On the bright side, maybe this will help get him into the rotation next year where we'll get 230 innings out of him.

[mtbykr]

One appearance NEVER makes a season in my book.

 

He has an uphill battle to winning ROY just because he's up against Liriano and Verlander to begin with whose contributions are so much greater than Papelbon's because they pitch a lot more innings.

In the end, people should realize that the difference between a .47 ERA and a .98 (whatever his numbers are right now) is ONE outing where he gave up 2 runs.

 

If I had to vote a week ago for ROY it would be a battle between Verlander and Liriano anyway because closers just aren't as important IMO as starters. I don't think he blew his chance at winning the award having one bad outing though. Anyone who favored Papelbon still sees his SICK

 

 

I disagree---let's not downplay the role of a great closer on a team. Look at what mariano did for the skanks last year (without him they don't sniff the playoffs) OR what Foulke did for us in 04......you could easily say that paps is our MVP so far this year. He's had trouble the last couple outings, but before that everygame we all felt like we had won if we could just get to paps with a lead.

[Mr Crunchy]

the season is 6 mos long

not 4

if it was 4 he'd be considered for cy young rookie of the year etc

 

if he crashes and burns due to mental fatigue or injury in the next 50 days??

he dont earn s***

 

liriano will be watched closely by the twins for the rest of the year

verlander got scratched his last time out as well

 

jenks meanwhile has kept plugging along and he saved the whitesox last summer

 

in case anyone forgot they were using dustin hermanson as a closer for a while there

[Papelbon58]

Rookies who win 20 games and lead the league in ERA while pitiching for the best team in baseball tend to get some votes (outside the bubble that is Boston, mind you). That said, let's ignore Verlander & Liriano for a second.

 

ERA is hardly the most important stat for a closer. Just to play devil's advocate, let's not forget that Jenks is still technically a rookie, as well. Papelbon crushes him in ERA, hits, walks, etc, yeah yeah yeah, because he's the better pitcher. But at the end of the day:

 

Jenks; 30 S 2 BS

Paps; 30 S 5 BS

 

Papelbon also converted his first 20 save opportunities, which means he has blown five of his last fifteen chances. Awards usually go to guys who turn it on in the stretch, not fade (or come back to reality, as the case may be).

 

Yeah, he's a stud and it's mainly because he seems to only inherit one-run leads, never gets those cushy three-run specials, he's the best pitcher among closers, and he's having an insane year. Agreed, but he is not Rookie of the Year. On the bright side, maybe this will help get him into the rotation next year where we'll get 230 innings out of him.

 

This is not the stretch, this is the middle. He can still turn it on, and he is definitely the leader right now since the other two are injured and Weaver has played less and is having the same downswing as Paps.

[jacksonianmarch]

This is not the stretch, this is the middle. He can still turn it on, and he is definitely the leader right now since the other two are injured and Weaver has played less and is having the same downswing as Paps.

 

April-May - start

June-July - Middle

August-September- Stretch

[The Monster is my Mom]

This is not the stretch, this is the middle. He can still turn it on, and he is definitely the leader right now since the other two are injured and Weaver has played less and is having the same downswing as Paps.

 

Verlander isn't technically hurt right now. The Tigers just skipped a start to keep his innings down since he has never pitched more than a 150 innings in a season. That said, I think if Verlander keeps up his pace and gets 20 wins for the best team in baseball he will be a lock for ROY and be in the top 3 or 4 for the AL Cy Young.

[Pesky]

Luckily Liriano may be out for the year, Weaver didn't start the season in Anaheim, Verlander has a tired arm and Jenks almost has a 4 ERA.

 

He isn't a lock at all, but every other candidate has their blemishes.

 

I do think Verlander will win it though. But this stretch hasn't changed my mind.

[Cocos Disciples]

Verlander doesn't necesarily have a tired arm I think, the Tigers are resting him now and then because he's never pitched this much, as a precautionary thing. He has the league lead in wins and a sub 3 ERA, that's Cy Young worthy right there.

[Cityofchampions33]

Theres still plenty of season left, and around now is telling times. If Paps and th Sox get hot and vault themselves over the Yankees (knock on wood) he should get more publicity and earn more votes while doing it. Hoever Paps does need soem help as in Verlander taling off anfd coming abck down to earth. If both fo those happen, Paps is your ROTY and Cy Young winner.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

I'd say unless Paps keeps his ERA below 1 and grabs at least another 15 saves...he doesn't have a prayer at MVP, ROY, or Cy. The dude set an unfair precedent for himself at the beginning of the year, no one could have thought he was going to keep that up. For sure if he did, with an ERA of freaking 0 and never blowing a save chance, he'd be a lock for every single award given. s***, I'd find a way to give him a Silver Slugger award for that, fact of the matter is, it didn't happen. The other rookie pitchers this year were just too good to have a very good season win any of those awards, you have to be absolutley, positively amazing. Granted, Paps was that at the beginning, unfortunatley, he's gotten pulled back down to (somewhat) reality. Depending on how far the Tigers go in the post-season (which I know they say doesn't matter), my pick is Verlander. Dude is ridiculous.

 

But let's look on the bright side...we've seen some great things out of Papelbon and I, for one, would be shocked if this year is his only run at the Cy Young or MVP.