2002 Cy Young Award — Stat Comparsion — Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Soxpitcher (2002 season)

pedro martinez
___________________________

2002 American League Cy Young Award

The candidates for the American League Cy Young Award are Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe of the Red Sox and Oakland’s Barry Zito. The writers have voted, but the winner will not be announced until after the World Series. Here is a look at their regular season performances:

Baseball Primer's 2002 AL Cy Young Award (October 7)
Complete Voting Results and Reader Comments

Name             1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  Blts  Pts
Pedro Martinez   9   3   4   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   16   185
Derek Lowe       4   8   4   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   16   160
Barry Zito       3   3   6   2   1   1   0   0   0   0   16   142
Roy Halladay     0   2   1   5   5   3   0   0   0   0   16   106
Tim Hudson       0   0   0   4   7   2   1   2   0   0   16    90
Jarrod Washburn  0   0   1   5   0   2   5   1   1   0   15    78
Mark Buehrle     0   0   0   0   0   4   6   1   0   0   11    47
Jamie Moyer      0   0   0   0   1   3   1   3   1   1   10    37
Mark Mulder      0   0   0   0   1   0   3   4   1   0    9    32
Tim Wakefield    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   2   5   1    8    17

Baseball Primer's 2002 AL MVP Award (October 6)
Complete Voting Results and Reader Comments

Name              1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  Blts  Pts
Alex Rodriguez   15   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   16   219
Jim Thome         0  11   2   2   0   0   0   0   1   0   16   131
Jason Giambi      0   3   9   3   0   1   0   0   0   0   16   125
Miguel Tejada     1   0   3   3   1   1   2   1   2   2   16    87
Manny Ramirez     0   0   0   1   7   5   1   0   1   0   15    80
Alfonso Soriano   0   1   1   1   4   0   2   6   0   0   15    74
Bernie Williams   0   0   1   2   2   2   2   0   0   2   11    50
Pedro Martinez    0   0   0   1   0   3   1   0   6   0   11    38
Derek Lowe        0   0   0   2   2   0   1   0   1   1    7    33
Magglio Ordonez   0   0   0   1   0   2   1   2   0   2    8    29
Nomar Garciaparra 0   0   0   0   0   0   2   2   1   4    9    20
Barry Zito        0   0   0   0   0   2   1   0   0   0    3    14

Bottom line: Pedro should get the win
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald (November 7)

Today is the day the results of the 2002 American League Cy Young Award balloting will be announced. Today is when we learn if Pedro Martinez has reclaimed the crown that is rightfully his. And, incredibly, the only arguments anyone seems to be making against Martinez are that he did not win enough or that he has already won too much.

Cy of the beholder — Three have case in this AL race
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe (November 7)

It’s a hot-stove extravaganza, a history-making, numbers-crunching feast of a debate with Pedro Martinez and Barry Zito as the main courses and Derek Lowe as an intriguing side dish. … In a contest that shapes up as one of the closest ever, one of the three will be presented today as the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner – unless, of course, 28 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America went completely batty before casting their ballots. There should be no other candidates.

Martinez between Zito and history
Chris Jenkins, San Diego Union-Tribune (November 7)

Hundreds of major league ballplayers have come from San Diego, including scores of pitchers. … None, however, ever won a Cy Young Award. … Until today. Perhaps. With a capital “P.” As in “Pedro.” If his chief competition were anybody but Pedro Martinez, local product Barry Zito of the Oakland Athletics might be considered a left-handed lock for the Cy Young Award … As it is, there’s a good possibility he’ll be the third straight A’s pitcher to finish second in Cy Young voting. Tim Hudson was runner-up to Martinez in 2000 and Mark Mulder lost to Roger Clemens last year.

Cy Young debate: Zito’s the choice
Matt Szefc, espn.com (November 6)

Much like the race for the AL West title for most of the 2002 season was a three-team battle, the race for the AL Cy Young Award is a three-man battle between Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Barry Zito. … 

How I’d vote: 1. Zito 2. Martinez 3. Lowe
How they’ll finish: 1. Zito 2. Martinez 3. Lowe

Zito faces Red Sox duo for AL prize
John Schlegel, mlb.com (November 6)

For each of the past two seasons, a member of the Oakland Athletics’ three-piece set of aces has put together a stellar season only to finish second in American League Cy Young Award voting. Hudson finished behind Pedro Martinez in the voting in 2000, and Mulder was runner-up to Roger Clemens last year. In 2002, Zito’s battling it out with Boston’s Martinez and Derek Lowe for the top prize. … “This will be probably the most important one because of all the things I have gone through, especially even for myself because I never expected too much success,” Martinez said. “Either way, I give Derek Lowe a lot of credit and I give Zito a lot of credit.”

Zito? Please! Cy Young is all Pedro’s
John Tomase, Eagle Tribune (November 5)

The American League Cy Young will be awarded Thursday. If the winner’s name doesn’t start with “Pedro” and end with “Martinez,” it will be a disgrace … And yet there’s a very real possibility Martinez will lose. The Sporting News and Players Choice awards went to Oakland lefty Barry Zito. Plenty of pundits have trumpeted his case as well. If the baseball writers follow suit, they either weren’t paying attention or they’ve warped the definition of the award.

Internet Baseball Awards: Cy Young
Greg Spira, Baseball Prospectus (October 24)

Winning a close race with Barry Zito and Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez followed in the footsteps of Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens by winning his fourth Internet Cy Young Award. Zito was actually named on more ballots than Martinez and finished a extremely strong second.

Name             1   2   3   4  5    B     P
Pedro Martinez 954 596 295  56 30 1931 15385
Barry Zito     775 666 449  71 24 1985 14894
Derek Lowe     256 571 859 142 43 1871 11321

Who were the majors’ best players in 2002?
Jim Henzler, STATS. Inc. (October 15)

[T]he science of player evaluation took a giant leap forward with the introduction of Runs Created by Bill James a couple of decades ago. And it achieved another level of insight with James’ groundbreaking Win Shares system earlier this year. In essence, Win Shares estimates the number of wins created by players in one neat number. While doing so, it puts pitchers and fielders in the same context as hitters, while trying to eliminate park illusions. …

National League Win Shares Leaders — 2002
Barry Bonds,   SF   49
Brian Giles,   Pit  32
Albert Pujols, StL  32
Chipper Jones, Atl  31
Ryan Klesko,   SD   31

… Remember, only one player since 1960 has exceeded the 49 Win Shares that Bonds generated this season. That was Bonds himself, who produced 54 in 2001. His 54 tied for the third-highest figure since 1900, while this year’s total of 49 is tied for the 10th most over the past century. …

American League Win Shares Leaders — 2002
Alex Rodriguez,  Tex  35
Jason Giambi,    NYY  34
Jim Thome,       Cle  34
Miguel Tejada,   Oak  32
Alfonso Soriano, NYY  30
Bernie Williams, NYY  30

American League Pitching Win Shares Leaders — 2002
Barry Zito,     Oak  25.2
Tim Hudson,     Oak  22.7
Derek Lowe,     Bos  21.8
Roy Halladay,   Tor  21.0
Pedro Martinez, Bos  20.5
Billy Koch,     Oak  18.6
Mark Mulder,    Oak  18.5

National League Pitching Win Shares Leaders — 2002
Randy Johnson,  Ari  28.7
Curt Schilling, Ari  23.7
Byung-Hyn Kim,  Ari  19.7
Roy Oswalt,     Hou  19.7
Eric Gagne,     LA   19.4

The winners, with reasons
Garry Brown, Springfield Union-News (October 13)

Cy Young Award: Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox If Oakland’s Barry Zito beats out Pitchin’ Pedro, it would not be surprising. However, a close look at the record will show that the Red Sox ace had a spectacular season. Two of his four losses came back to back to Arizona and Atlanta by scores of 3-2 and 2-1, respectively. Pedro led the league in winning percentage (.833), strikeouts (239), batting average against (.198) and earned run average (2.26). Yes, he should have taken the ball for his last start on the final Sunday of the season, but that’s strictly a subject for debate among Red Sox fans. It will have no impact on the voting. Meanwhile, Pedro’s teammate, Derek Lowe, figures to come in a distant third despite his 20-victory season.

Inside the numbers of the AL Cy Young race
Michael Wolverton, espn.com (October 4)

Barry Zito has arrived. … His 2002 regular season performance may not make him the automatic AL Cy Young Award winner, but it has put him on the short list of contenders for the honor, along with the Red Sox 1-2 punch of Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe. But as highly acclaimed as Zito is, is it possible he’s even better than we think? One factor that often gets overlooked in player evaluation in general, and the AL Cy Young discussion in particular, is the impact of the unbalanced schedule. And that’s an area where Zito seems to be operating at a big disadvantage. …

2002 MLB Awards
Dan Patrick, espn.com (October 2)

AL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez The Cy Young award goes to the best pitcher, not the most valuable. With a 2.26 ERA, Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher in the AL. A’s lefty Barry Zito led the league with 23 wins, and Red Sox starter (and former closer) Derek Lowe became the third pitcher to throw a no-hitter plus have a 20-win and 40-save season in his career. But when Pedro was on, the Red Sox were still in the race. In terms of run support, Martinez did more with less. When he got four runs or less, he still won nine of 13 decisions. The better the competition, the better Martinez performs.

AL MVP: Miguel Tejada, Oakland A’s “… Many will argue that A-Rod deserves the award. There’s no doubt that A-Rod had a phenomenal season (AL-leading 57 home runs and 142 RBI). The MVP, though, shouldn’t go to the best player in baseball …”

Bonds, Tejada take home the MVP hardware
Jayson Stark, espn.com (October 1)

AL Cy Young Barry Zito: It’s hard not to pick a guy who goes 20-4, and leads his league in strikeouts and ERA (i.e., Pedro Martinez). But we’ll say this again: September matters. And Pedro couldn’t make it to the mound for two weeks in early September when his team was trying to hang in the race, while Zito was winning his fifth, sixth and seventh games in a row (and his bullpen was blowing two more wins). Zito went 6-2 against playoff teams. Pedro went 5-4. So Pedro has his trophies. It’s about time one of these A’s aces collected one. Apologies to: Derek Lowe, Mark Buerhle, Jarrod Washburn.

AL MVP — Miguel Tejada: It isn’t the Prettiest Numbers Award. It isn’t the Best Player Award. …

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated (Sept. 30 issue)
Cy Young ballot — Martinez, Lowe, Zito — and included these statistical tidbits:

ERA against winning teams:        Martinez  2.14
Lowe      2.91
Zito      3.63

W/L with 4 runs or fewer support: Martinez   9-4
Lowe       6-7
Zito       6-5

Zito deserves nod in tight AL Cy Young race
Matt Szefc and David Schoenfield, espn.com (September 27)

Who should win the American League Cy Young Award? When you glance at the numbers for the top three candidates — Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Barry Zito … all three excelled against lower-tier teams with Martinez and Lowe doing especially well against the dreadful Orioles … Zito, meanwhile, made several more starts against above .500 teams than did both Martinez and Lowe, thanks in large part to having Anaheim and Seattle in his division. … while Pedro had a great season and is still arguably the most dominant pitcher in the AL, if not the majors, Zito deserves to win the award.

Tejada carried A’s through crucial stretch
Peter Gammons, espn.com (September 24)

Cy Young Award American League
1. Pedro Martinez, Boston
2. Barry Zito, Oakland
3. Derek Lowe, Boston

The AL vote is a mass of conflicting thoughts, and poor Derek Lowe would have won it in a walk last season. Zito’s argument is that he was more reliable (Lowe and Martinez both pitched nearly twice as often on more than four days’ rest), had more quality starts, his record against teams still in the playoff hunt on Sept. 27 was far better and he was unbeaten down the stretch while pitching Oakland to first place in what was, by far, the best division in the league.

Pedro’s argument is that 1) he led the league in ERA, strikeouts and lowest OPS against; 2) it took him until late April to be right; and 3) he is the best damn pitcher in the league. In this case, Zito may be the victim of being on the same staff as two other Cy Young runners-up, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. But bet on Zito winning, and, hey, anyone who votes for him may be right. I could change my mind tomorrow morning.

Zito faces Red Sox duo for AL prize
John Schlegel, mlb.com (September 23)

First, it was Tim Hudson. Then, Mark Mulder. Now it’s Barry Zito’s turn to try and break through the Cy Young barrier. For each of the past two seasons, a member of the Oakland Athletics’ three-piece set of aces has put together a stellar season only to finish second in American League Cy Young Award voting. Hudson finished behind Pedro Martinez in the voting in 2000, and Mulder was runner-up to Roger Clemens last year.

Back to Home