Major League Baseball

Wainwright belongs in Cy Young discussion

Published Sep. 10, 2009 6:52 a.m. ET

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I surveyed 12 scouts and executives Wednesday, asking them to offer their selections for the National League Cy Young Award.

Six picked Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals. Six picked Tim Lincecum of the Giants.




No one chose Adam Wainwright. And I was a little surprised by that.

Now, I fully expect Carpenter or Lincecum to win the award. Carpenter leads the league with a 2.16 ERA. Lincecum is next at 2.34.

Both have won it before — Carpenter in 2005, Lincecum last year. Both deserve to win it again. After all, both have ERAs that are lower than when they first received the honor.

Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are the only pitchers to win multiple NL Cy Young awards over the past 25 years. Some two months from now, in all likelihood, Carpenter or Lincecum will join them. And it would be very difficult to argue against their membership in such an exclusive club.

Wainwright can't match their status as former Cy Young winners. He's not widely perceived as a No. 1 starter, in the same way that Carpenter and Lincecum are. Wainwright is having a career year — the most polite way of saying that he hasn't been quite this good ever before.

I'm not among the baseball writers voting for this year's NL Cy Young Award. But if I were, I would consider three simple facts before marking my ballot for Carpenter or Lincecum.

1) Wainwright leads the league with 18 wins, after earning his latest victory with seven shutout innings in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon.

2) Wainwright leads the league with 205 innings. (Carpenter is third on the Cardinals at 166 2/3 because of time spent on the disabled list.)

3) Wainwright hasn't missed a start this season because of injury; Carpenter and Lincecum have.

Still, Wainwright is up against the perception that he isn't as dominant as Carpenter and Lincecum. And in all fairness, that perception is probably correct.

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