Could Britton pull out a Cy Young if he finishes with 50+/<.50?

[DrungoHazewood]

I believe the record for fewest innings by a Cy Young winner is 78, by Rollie Fingers during the strike year in '81. In a regular season it's probably Eck's 80 in '92. Britton is on pace to throw 69.

[Ruzious]

NY is not in the playoff hunt, so they can afford to fire sale.

The Cubs are also desperate to win a WS.

There is NO reason to even think about trading Britton right now.

I'm talking about in the offseason. We can't trade him until then. There's nothing wrong with thinking about the future. Givens appears to be ready for a bigger role.

[Redskins Rick]

I'm talking about in the offseason. We can't trade him until then. There's nothing wrong with thinking about the future. Givens appears to be ready for a bigger role.

Ok, sorry, but, I have seen some posters that believe trading him now, made sense.

Givens has trouble getting LH guys out, and you never know how a reliever will do in the high pressure closer role, until they actually do it.

I think O'Day has the make-up to be a good closer.

[DrungoHazewood]

In a somewhat related vein, I'll nominate Steve Bedrosian in the category of luckiest/worst Cy Young winner of all time. Led the league with 40 saves, but had a 2.83 ERA and allowed 11 homers. He lucked out by having Nolan Ryan win the ERA title but finish 8-16, while the 2nd-best pitcher in the NL was Orel Hershiser who went 16-16. Ryan ended up with 196 more strikeouts than Bedrosian.

By modern metrics Bedrosian was 28th in rWAR, and 80th in fWAR in the 12-team National League.

[Ruzious]

Ok, sorry, but, I have seen some posters that believe trading him now, made sense.

Givens has trouble getting LH guys out, and you never know how a reliever will do in the high pressure closer role, until they actually do it.

I think O'Day has the make-up to be a good closer.

Agreed on both views. I don't yet feel comfortable with Givens in real high pressure situations, and while I think that'll change, it might not. I'd like to see O'Day get a year as the closer to phase in Givens.

[Redskins Rick]

Agreed on both views. I don't yet feel comfortable with Givens in real high pressure situations, and while I think that'll change, it might not. I'd like to see O'Day get a year as the closer to phase in Givens.

I guess I am in the minority, but when you have an elite guy at a high pressure position, you keep him, pay him the money.

But, I don't own the team, or play GM on TV, either.

[FlipTheBird]

Agreed on both views. I don't yet feel comfortable with Givens in real high pressure situations, and while I think that'll change, it might not. I'd like to see O'Day get a year as the closer to phase in Givens.

Givens has to prove he can get lefties out before it's even remotely considered.

With O'Day under contract going forward, I imagine next year will be Zach's last as an Oriole, one way or another. He'll get paid big time, and I don't think we're the kind of team that can invest the chunk of change he'll get in a closer.

[Redskins Rick]

Givens has to prove he can get lefties out before it's even remotely considered.

With O'Day under contract going forward, I imagine next year will be Zach's last as an Oriole, one way or another. He'll get paid big time, and I don't think we're the kind of team that can invest the chunk of change he'll get in a closer.

I wouldn't be opposed to letting Britton see how he fares as a SP, and then that would justify the higher money.

[Ruzious]

I wouldn't be opposed to letting Britton see how he fares as a SP, and then that would justify the higher money.

That I would not consider. He's almost completely reliant on one pitch, and he'd likely lose 2 to 3 MPH on it if he moved out of the pen.

[FlipTheBird]

I wouldn't be opposed to letting Britton see how he fares as a SP, and then that would justify the higher money.

Well if he came out and pitched well as a SP, he'd wind up being even more expensive...

But I'd agree with Ruzious. Britton's success has been predicated on the fact that, when you've only got to pitch one inning, you can get away with throwing one very good pitch. Mariano Rivera did it for a long time. Wouldn't have worked as a SP.

[Ruzious]

Givens has to prove he can get lefties out before it's even remotely considered.

With O'Day under contract going forward, I imagine next year will be Zach's last as an Oriole, one way or another. He'll get paid big time, and I don't think we're the kind of team that can invest the chunk of change he'll get in a closer.

He did get lefties out in 2015 - though he didn't strike them out as often as he did righties.

[FlipTheBird]

He did get lefties out in 2015 - though he didn't strike them out as often as he did righties.

He did, yes, but he's gotten walloped in 2016, and to the point where I don't think we can call it an aberration. Now he's just got to make his own adjustments.

The kid's got a bright future, yeah, but there are two guys on this team I'd turn the keys over to before Givens right now, in O'Day and Brach.

[O's84]

I believe the record for fewest innings by a Cy Young winner is 78, by Rollie Fingers during the strike year in '81.

I bet I can guess what finger he held up after giving up a HR.

[OFFNY]

o

I think that it would be interesting if Britton got the M.V.P., but not the Cy Young Award.

You could argue that he is the most valuable player, but not necessarily the best pitcher.

I got this idea from a NY Daily News article from August of 1986. It suggested that Don Aase should get the A.L. MVP Award, and that Roger Clemens should get the A.L. Cy Young Award. Aase had 29 saves and a 2.10 ERA at the time, and the Orioles had relied heavily upon him to keep them in the A.L. East Pennant race up until that point.

[DrungoHazewood]

I think that it would be interesting if Britton got the M.V.P., but not the Cy Young Award.

You could argue that he is the most valuable player, but not necessarily the best pitcher.

I got this idea from a NY Daily News article from August of 1986. It suggested that Don Aase should get the A.L. MVP Award, and that Roger Clemens should get the A.L. Cy Young Award. Aase had 29 saves and a 2.10 ERA at the time, and the Orioles had relied heavily upon him to keep them in the A.L. East Pennant race up until that point.

That only works if you decide that "most valuable" doesn't mean "best" but instead something like "the player whose absence would have the biggest negative impact on his team's realistic playoff chances".

The issue with that is you'll inevitably end up with nonsensical awards, where you give it to a 4-win guy with no halfway decent backups on a team that snuck into the wildcard over guys who were twice as good. I think giving a reliever the Cy Young should be very rare, and is almost never objectively justifiable. The MVP to a reliever? I don't know that there has ever been a situation where you could logically make a case for that. Goose Gossage was 2nd in the AL in rWAR in '75 (but 13th in fWAR), that's probably as close as you'd ever come.