Tim Lincecum Narrowly Wins Second Cy Young

Sports News - November 19th, 2009 - Written by John

If ever there was a time to get in on MLB Betting, the race to the Cy Young award would of carried some tough betting odds. In one of the closest races in history, Tim Lincecum secured his second-straight Cy Young award, besting both parts of the St. Louis Cardinals duo on Thursday.

ESPN reported that Lincecum's 100 total points were only six better than Chris Carpenter, and 10 better than Adam Wainwright, and allowed him to become the first NL pitcher since 2001 to win back-to-back crowns. The last one to do it was Randy Johnson, who actually won four-straight titles between 1998-2001.

Lincecum didn't receive the most first-place votes, however. That distinction went to Wainwright, who had 12. But Lincecum's 11, plus 12 second and nine third-place votes made for a better total. Wainwright was actually left off two voters' cards, as was Carpenter, illustrating that the pair likely split votes from the same region. Wainwright became the first player since Trevor Hoffman in 1998 to rack up the most first-place votes and not win the award.

Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez came in fourth.

The fact that Lincecum won the award came as no surprise, though. From start to finish, he was clearly the cream of the NL. He tallied a 15-7 record with a 2.48 ERA and led the league in strikeouts (261) and complete games (4). He was also on a good team, varying from AL counterpart, Zack Grienke, who became the first pitcher in history to win the award despite a team record as bad as the Kansas City Royals'. Lincecum started the All-Star game for the first time and it wasn’t until late September that he finally started to crumble. He was hobbled by a minor arm injury and lost two of his final three starts to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs as the Giants crumbled to the Colorado Rockies.

Nicknamed "The Freak", Lincecum became a fan favorite in his first complete season in '08, using a jerky motion and a devastating slider to lead the league in strikeouts two years in a row.

As far as contracts go, the Giants will likely need to dig deep in it's pockets to keep the young star. At a current salary of $650,000, Lincecum would be best served to head for arbitration for an added boost.

As an example, both Ryan Howard and Alfonso Soriano won giant public arbitration cases when they outperformed their salaries. After winning the 2007 NL MVP in just his second season, Howard saw his $900,000 rookie pay rise when he was awarded $10 million.

Bonuses for such achievements as the Cy Young are generally part of a contract, but because the righty is so young, no such provision was included on his first contract.

In contrast, Carpenter and Wainwright were both given $100,000 extra for their finishes in the balloting.

To discuss this and other Sports related stories be sure to check out our new forum at:
https://www.usaplayers.com/forums/