Kuzul

This is an extremely rough first draft of my pitching rankings and faces a lot of changes as the offseason progresses (as well as being expanded significantly).  Keep that in mind as you look things over.

While the top pick is clear-cut, after that things are extremely wide open.  Especially from about 14 through 25 (though not all are shown on the rankings), there is likely to be a lot of movement because all of the pitchers are so closely bunched together.  Let’s take a look at how things currently stand:

1. Roy Halladay – Philadelphia Phillies
2. Felix Hernandez – Seattle Mariners
3. Tim Lincecum – San Francisco Giants
4. Jon Lester – Boston Red Sox
5. CC Sabathia – New York Yankees
6. Clayton Kershaw – Los Angeles Dodgers
7. Adam Wainwright – St. Louis Cardinals
8. Ubaldo Jimenez – Colorado Rockies
9. Justin Verlander – Detroit Tigers
10. Jered Weaver – Los Angeles Angels
11. Francisco Liriano – Minnesota Twins
12. Yovani Gallardo – Milwaukee Brewers
13. Cliff Lee – Free Agent
14. Josh Johnson – Florida Marlins
15. Chris Carpenter – St. Louis Cardinals
16. Clay Buchholz – Boston Red Sox
17. Mat Latos – San Diego Padres
18. Cole Hamels – Philadelphia Phillies
19. Tommy Hanson – Atlanta Braves
20. Zack Greinke – Kansas City Royals

Just Missed: Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants; Roy Oswalt, Philadelphia Phillies; David Price, Tampa Bay Rays; Dan Haren, Los Angeles Angels; Ricky Nolasco, Florida Marlins

• For as good as Ubaldo Jimenez was for the first two months of the season, he had some real struggles (at times) after that.  There’s no doubt he’s entrenched himself as one of the elite starting pitchers in the game, but his .273 BABIP could really regress.  We’ll touch on him again in much more detail, but I wouldn’t over draft him based on his early season performance.
• Where Cliff Lee ultimately lands will help determine exactly where he belongs on these rankings.  His spot is probably the most in flux at this point.
• Surprised at Mat Latos’ presence?  His performance at Petco Park alone (2.59 ERA) gives us a lot to like.  When you add in his strikeout upside (10.6 minor league K/9) and solid control, there is reason to believe he could develop into a SP1 this season.  He emerged last season and should continue to be one of the better options available.
• Is Zack Greinke going to be traded or not?  For now, he’ll hang on at the bottom of these rankings, after he struggled in 2010, but if he gets traded to a contender, his value will increase significantly.  If he doesn’t, he is likely to find himself off the list completely.
• Wainwright or Kershaw?  Kershaw or Wainwright?  That’s certainly going to be an interesting debate as the offseason progresses.
• Yovani Gallardo has the stuff to be among the best of the best, if he could only put it together for a full season (5.77 ERA after the All Star Break).  His overall numbers are nothing to complain about (3.84 ERA, 200 K), but there is so much more that could.

What are your thoughts on these rankings?  Whose too high?  Whose too low?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 Catchers
• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• Top 15 Third Basemen
• Top 15 Shortstops
• 2011 Fantasy Draft First Round Breakdown

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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Today, the Baseball Writers Association of America will unveil its choice for the 2010 National League Cy Young Award, making this the first time in the more than three weeks since Bleacher Report’s featured columnists began to release the results of our end-of-season awards poll that Major League Baseball has had the decency to coordinate their announcement with ours.

Yesterday, we did the AL Cy Young, they did the Rookies of the Year. Last week, they announced the Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves, a full fortnight after we did. And while we’ll be all done by Thursday, they’re going to drag their results out until just before Thanksgiving.

But I digress—here are the results of B/R’s NL Cy Young vote.

As always, the top five vote-getters are featured here, with commentary from the writers who chose them. The full list of results is at the end.

So read on, see how we did, and be sure to tell us what we got wrong!

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Are the New York Yankees making Cliff Lee an immediate offer?

According to the New York Post, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is on a plane headed for Arkansas. Maybe he’s going to check out Walmart’s international head quarters. Or maybe he is considering bringing Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino back to the world of professional sports.

But most likely he’s going to meet with free agent stud Cliff Lee, who is from and lives in “The Natural State.”

Cashman has plenty of obstacles to overcome in signing Lee, but most prominent is his wife’s apparent disdain for the Big Apple, after she was harassed during the ALCS at Yankee Stadium.

But negotiating a deal appeasing to both sides is also an issue. Lee is 32 years old. He is going to want a long contract, something similar to what the club gave his former teammate CC Sabathia just two years ago. But was three years younger when they signed him in 2009.

Several teams will be looking to sign Lee but the Yankees might be the only ones with the money, although the Rangers could get the “hometown” discount.

Here are 10 more rumors floating around the world of Major League Baseball.

Begin Slideshow

Now that the least interesting World Series in years is finally over, all 30 MLB teams can again have hopes and dreams for the upcoming season. Most of the 2010 playoff teams are again favorites heading into the off-season, but there is always yearly change in who makes the playoffs. 

The following list is mostly compiled of teams who were not competitive at all late into the year. The teams are in order of how much change their 2011 season will be from their respective 2010 seasons. A major motif for these teams is how their youth will take it to the next level.

Here are the teams that were considered afterthoughts in 2010, but who are going to surprise everyone in the 2011 season. 

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Rocktober has never felt so far away.

The Rockies fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 3-1 on Monday night, losing their second straight and their seventh in their past eight games. 

The Rockies won ten in a row earlier this month, but never were able to eclipse or tie the teams that were in their playoff path.  Now, with just six games remaining, the Rockies sit four games out of the Wild Card, and five out of the top spot in the National League West.

“If we were ugly before this game, now we’re bleeding,” Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez told ESPN.com after Monday night’s game.

There’s most likely not enough time remaining to stop the bleeding for Colorado.  They play two more games against the Dodgers at Coors Field, then finish up the regular season with four at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals.  

“It’s painful,” Gonzalez continued.  “Because we all thought we were going to be battling until the end.”

He’s right, because we all did.  The Rockies have had a knack over the past four seasons for having a “never-say-die” attitude, where you could never, at any point in a ballgame or a season, count them out.  Seriously, count all the times you saw the Rockies down 6-0, or saw where they were in the standings, and said to yourself, “Damn, they’re finished.”  Now count how many times you were wrong.  The two numbers are probably pretty close.

But it isn’t all in the Rockies’ control this time.  If they want any chance at winning the Wild Card, even if the Braves and Padres lose the remainder of their games (the Padres have six, while the Braves only have five), the Rockies would have to go 5-1 just to force a three-way tie for the Wild Card. 

The NL West is virtually impossible at this point, considering the Padres and Giants face off on the last weekend of the season, and well, someone has to win those games.  It’s not yet mathematically impossible, however. 

If the Padres win just two of their next six (both would need to be against the Giants), the Giants lose at least five of their final six games, and the Rockies win their final six games, the Rockies would finish in some type of tie for the National League West crown, whether it be a two-way or a three-way tie. 

They can no longer win the division without a one-game playoff, because one of either the Padres or Giants will win two games this weekend. 

Was that enough of a math lesson for today?  Good, it was for me too.

It’s a disappointing story, honestly.  The Rockies had become one of those teams that fans who didn’t have a favorite team trying to beat them out for a playoff spot rooted for. During that early September run, it appeared as if the only thing that could stop the Rockies, was the Rockies themselves. 

That seems to be what happened.  The turning point of their season might wind up being when they got swept in Arizona last week.  Being swept by the Diamondbacks didn’t seem possible for Colorado about two weeks before that.

They have players easy to root for, too.  Carlos Gonzalez might be on his way to challenging Albert Pujols as the best player in the game.  Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had a September that will be compared to that of Babe Ruth’s. Rotation ace Ubaldo Jimenez will at least be involved in the National League Cy Young discussion.

In the end, they might not be enough.  And it probably won’t be. 

But they’ll be back.  If you don’t believe that, you haven’t paid attention the past three years.

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After dropping two of three from the Giants in Colorado, the Rockies are likely out of playoff contention.

Frankly, after the season the Rockies had, they are lucky to still be in playoff conversation. At the All-Star Break, they were 49-39. Just 15 days later, on July 28, they were 51-50.

From then until late August and early September, they were simply a mediocre team. They then went on a conveniently placed 10-game winning streak which put them right back into playoff contention.

Then they went right back to their mediocre ways. They got swept in Arizona by the D-Backs and then dropped two of three at home to the Giants AT HOME.

That shows the average baseball fan that the Rockies are not a 2010 playoff team. A team that is one of the most dominant home teams in baseball with a record of 51-24 going into the Giants series must win basically every home game in late September.

Apparently CarGo and Tulo and the entire Rockies offense (save for Game 2 when they scored 10 runs in 10 innings) didn’t read the memo:

Every game is a must win situation for the rest of the season.

Weird. It seemed like the fans got it though. 125,067 of them really took it to heart and came out to support the Rockies.

What did they get to see?

Game 1: Tim Lincecum dominates the Rockies while giving up two hits and one run.

Game 2: The Rockies come from behind to win 10-9 in 10 innings in a game they probably shouldn’t have won.

Game 3: Matt Cain nearly no-hits the Rockies faltering offense until they break through in the eighth with an infield single and a pinch-hit homer from Melvin Mora.

The Rockies are not a playoff team. Yet.

That begs the question of “WHEN?”

Many fans are thinking next year may be the year the Rockies break through and take their rightful place atop the NL West.

Those who are not acquainted with the Rockies (which is basically everyone in the media to include ESPN, MLB.com, and basically every other sports news station on the East Coast) are probably asking “Who the hell do these fans think they are?”

These are the fans of a fairly new team compared to the 100-year-old franchises that are stationed east of the Mississippi River.

These are also the fans who happen to know a thing or two about a very young and talented team.

The Rockies are an extremely young team.

Only Todd Helton and Melvin Mora are present starters over 35. The average age of the rest of the starters (not including pitchers) is 26.3.

Yes, age is just a number, but the Rockies are more than just a young team. They are a young, TALENTED team.

Troy Tulowitzki has been in the news lately because he has had the most productive September of any Rockie.

He is 3 RBI’s short of Babe Ruth’s 1927 record of 43 RBI’s in one month. He also has 15 home runs his month, giving him 27 on the year.

It seems as though he has finally found an effective way to produce for the Rockies.

Carlos Gonzalez, a.k.a CarGo, was the key to the Rockies’ push back into the playoff picture.

During the Rockies’ 10-game winning streak, he hit over .500 and seemed to keep creating offense. He was always up when the Rockies badly needed a run or two and he’d produce.

At the beginning of the year, he was one of baseball’s biggest free swingers. In 2009, he had 70 K’s in 89 games. This year he has 131 in 141 games. That makes it seem like he became even more of a free swinger.

The truth is that total would likely be around 200 without his incredible maturation over this season.

If he had this same type of plate discipline at the beginning of the season, his batting average would likely be in the neighborhood of a nearly impossibly .380 instead of a very impressive .341.

He has finally realized that a walk is usually just as effective as a hit, especially when you have Troy Tulowitzki hitting behind you.

Rockies fans are looking for an even better season from CarGo in 2011.

Ubaldo who?

Ubaldo Jimenez seemed like a lock for the NL Cy Young Award in the first half of the season. Now he’s looking like an average ace with a record of 19-7 and a 3.00 ERA.

Going into the All-Star Break he was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA.

There are two possible explanations for his lack of success: Hitters started to figure him out and started to hit him hard, and he simply lost effectiveness. He began to hang pitches and failed to execute pitches the way he had in the first half.

He was the primary reason the Rockies were still in contention after the All-Star Break. If he didn’t get the win, he’d put the Rockies in a position to get a win, which they often did when he was on the hill in the first half.

If the Rockies want to go deep into the playoffs next year, they need Jimenez to retain his first-half form from this year for all of next year. They need him to win between 25 and 30 games and lose less than five.

Yes, it sounds like a nearly impossible task, but Jimenez has the stuff to do it.

Consistency is key. For the past three years, the Rockies have been one of baseball’s most hot-and-cold teams. They went on winning streaks as long as 11 games and losing streaks as long as eight games.

It is easy to tell the Rockies what they need to do. The question is whether they will be able to execute what is needed.

The Rockies went through an amazing maturing process this year.

Next year will be the year that the Rockies win the NL West for the first time ever, and the pennant for the second time in five years.

Next year will be the beginning of something great for Colorado.

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As the 2010 Major League Baseball regular season begins to wind down, it is time to start to think about candidates for the annual awards.

After years of hitters dominating the league, this season has been all about the resurgence of the pitcher.  That is why this year’s NL Cy Young race is filled with a lot of pitchers who have had great individual seasons.

Here are the top five candidates for the 2010 NL Cy Young award.

Begin Slideshow

In the past couple weeks, baseball has begun to see its annual class of 20-game winners emerge. First was CC Sabathia, who will be going for win number 21 on Thursday. Second was Roy Halladay, who won his 20th game yesterday. Now, Jimenez is looking to win his 20th game.

This game is important beyond Jimenez trying to win 20 games though; the Rockies are 2.5 games back in the competitive National League West. They’re facing the Diamondbacks, who could still lose 100 games this season. It’s these games that any team has to win when they’re in a tight race.

The game starts at 9:40 Eastern Time, and I will continuously update on Jimenez and the other teams’ progress.

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With the 2010 baseball season nearly coming to a close, it’s time to take a look at the National League Cy Young candidates.

The 2010 season has been called “the Year of the Pitcher,” and it all started when Ubaldo Jimenez threw a no-hitter for the Rockies against the Braves on April 17th. Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay then threw perfect games against the Rays and Marlins respectively, and after that came Armando Galaragga’s infamous non-perfect game, where Jim Joyce blew the call on the grounder for the final out. Edwin Jackson then threw a no-hitter against the Rays for the Diamondbacks, and finally, Matt Garza gave the Rays a taste of a no-hitter for themselves when he no-hit the Tigers.

With so much illustrious pitching this year, this is clearly a very tight race, and probably is a tough decision for the voters. The winner of the award will probably come down to whose team makes the playoffs and where their team ends up in the standings.

Sadly, Tim Lincecum, winner of the last two Cy Young awards, doesn’t have a chance this year. His 3.60 ERA currently ranks 24th in the league.

However, being a pitcher’s year, there are naturally plenty beside Lincecum in the NL worthy of winning the esteemed Cy Young award, ranging from energetic rising stars like Mat Latos to wily veterans like Roy Halladay. But the top contenders at this point have to be Halladay of the Phillies, Latos of the Padres, Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals, Josh Johnson of the Marlins, Tim Hudson of the Braves, and Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies.

Mat Latos, in only his 2nd major league season, leads the whole MLB in ERA and WHIP, (2.21 and 0.96) along with 14 wins.

Roy Halladay, who’s just about always in Cy Young conversations, hasn’t disappointed the Phillies. The “Doctor” has piled up 18 wins so far, with a respectable 2.44 ERA, and leading the league in strikeouts with 201.

Like ‘Doc’, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright has 18 wins, with a nice 2.38 ERA, and is right up there in strikeouts with 191.

Ubaldo Jimenez, also with 18 wins, started the season off with a bang, posting a 2.20 ERA in the first half. While he has cooled off recently. He still has a great 2.79 ERA.

Josh Johnson, a young ace for the Marlins, is having a remarkable year. He has a 2.30 ERA, and should be right up there for the award discussions.

And last but not least, Tim Hudson. The sinker-ball pitcher has had a tremendous year for the Atlanta Braves, sporting a 2.41 ERA, and 15 wins.

All of these gentlemen are worthy of the Cy Young award. If I had to pick a front-runner, I’d pick Mat Latos. The sophomore, as mentioned before still leads the league in ERA and WHIP, while racking up 14 victories. If the Padres can hold on to their division lead, or at least make the playoffs, I’m sure Latos will win it.

Without the spectacular pitching of the young ace, I don’t think the San Diego Padres would have made it even near this far.

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As the calendar turns to September, baseball races are really starting to heat up.

The NL Wild Card has a few possible candidates: the Phillies lead the Giants by two games and are 5.5 up on the fading Cardinals.

The Rockies find themselves 6.5 games out of the Wild Card lead after a seemingly season-killing, eight-game losing streak at the end of July. They are still 7.5 games out of the NL West, despite the Padres’ continued slide.

Yesterday’s gut-wrenching, 12-11 loss to the Phillies really hurts. Like, soap in both eyes hurt. But with 29 games to play, the Rockies will still be a player down the stretch run.

The Rockies have been able to tread water with injuries to Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Jorge De La Rosa, Manuel Corpas and Huston Street.

They have a Pirate-like road record of 26-42. The offense tends to go into hibernation outside of the friendly confines of Coors Field.

Their ace Ubaldo Jimenez hasn’t won a decision since August 4th despite allowing no more than three earned runs in his past seven starts. The flamethrower has taken it in stride, but people were talking about this guy winning 30 games in July; now he might not even reach 20!

The Rockies have had to deal with the aging of their local legend, Helton, who has been a force for the Rockies for over 10 years. But age is creeping up on him very quickly; Helton hit a paltry .246 before being placed on the DL in early July with a stiff back. The $17.7M dollar man only had two homers to that point.

Since coming off the DL in early August, Helton has improved dramatically.

The re-energized Helton has hit .307 while launching four bombs and knocking in 10 runs, making the offseason choice for Rockies’ management that much harder. Helton’s gargantuan contract runs through the ’11 campaign.

Tulo has returned to All-Star form after being sidelined for 33 games with a broken wrist. He was red hot in August with a .351 average and 16 RBI. His Gold-Glove-caliber defense has shined as well.

But the biggest reason the Rox aren’t completely buried is the one they call CarGo. Carlos Gonzalez has been an absolute monster for the Rockies this season. He is hitting a sizzling .331 with 31 home-runs and 93 ribbies.

He is in the top five of all three major categories in the NL. If it wasn’t for Joey Votto and Albert Pujols, CarGo would be the runaway choice for MVP. The five-tool star plays a magnificent left field and also has some speed, collecting 20 SBs on the year.

The Rockies have a history of late season magic; everybody remembers “Roxtober” of 2007, when they ripped off 14 wins in 15 games to sweep their way into the World Series. In 2009, the Rockies played nine games over .500 in September en route a Wild Card berth.

In both instances, the team struggled mightily throughout the spring and into the summer. But for whatever reason—depth, conditioning, concentration, or something else—the Rockies never give up till the bitter end.

Fast forward to this year and they find themselves in a eerily similar position. World beaters they are not, but the team has refused to fold.

Sure, it looks bleak for the Mile High City, but they are finally healthy again.

They have a set lineup featuring a ton of speed with Dexter Fowler and Eric Young Jr. at the top of the order. The rotation has been solid of late and a healthy Aaron Cook will be back next week. Catching the Phillies won’t be easy, but this team has as good a chance as any to give them all they can handle.

Recent history suggests that the Rockies may not be a team to count out just yet.

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