Posted by Brian Joseph on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 6:48 am

In 2008, the big story in San Francisco was Tim Lincecum. His impressive stuff gained as much attention as his small frame and with the Giants and Athletics nowhere near the race for the postseason, he was the story in the Bay Area. His domination of NL hitters and amazing numbers earned Lincecum the ‘08 Cy Young Award despite Brandon Webb’s 20-win season. In 2009, Lincecum wasn’t the only game in town as the Giants were in the hunt and it was hard to talk about San Francisco without mentioning “Kung Fu Panda” (Pablo Sandoval) first.

In addition, a number of other viable candidates around the National League emerged to challenge Lincecum. It would have been easy for Linecum to get lost in the shuffle. If the BBWAA follows the lead of BDD, that won’t be the case as our team of writers felt Lincecum’s 2009 performance was worthy of recognition as the site’s National League Cy Young selection.

Here’s a sample of some of Linecum’s ‘09 numbers the 15 BDD writers who all cast a vote for Timmy (9 of 15 being first-place votes) found impossible to ignore:

• In 32 starts, Lincecum posted a 15-7 record. 81% of the 32 starts were quality starts and his average game score was 64.
• His 2.48 ERA and 1.047 WHIP ranked second and fourth in the NL respectively.
• Lincecum led the National League in strikeouts for the second straight year with 261 in 225-1/3 innings and led the league in K/9 for the second consecutive year at 10.4.
• While his ‘08 batting line against was impressive (.221/.297/.316), his ‘09 batting line against was even better at .206/.271/.290.
• Lincecum also led the league in complete games (4), shutouts (2), VORP (69.8).

In second place, Chris Carpenter earned votes from 12 BDD voters including 4 who put the Cardinals’ hurler at the top of their list. Despite missing time, Carpenter still made 28 starts and posted a 17-4 record and led the National League with a 2.24 ERA. His 1.007 WHIP was the second best in the NL. Carpenter was a close second to Lincecum in VORP (68.7) and was the NL leader in WPA at 5.41. The ‘05 Cy Young winner returned to form after missing most of ‘07 and ‘08 due to injury and went a stretch of 13 consecutive starts (from July 5th to September 7th) without a loss. During that stretch, he went 11-0 with a 1.97 ERA.

Carpenter’s teammate Adam Wainwright finished third in the balloting and received two first-place votes while appearing on 13 of the 15 ballots cast. Wainwright led the National League with 19 wins paired with only 8 losses. He tossed a league-high 233 innings in a league-high 34 starts. His 2.63 ERA and 1.210 WHIP were both ranked in the top 10 in the NL and Wainwright was one of five pitchers in the National League to strike out 200 — Adam whiffed 212.

Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez finished fourth. Of the five voters who left off one of the two Cardinals, Vazquez received four of the votes. His successful return to the National League saw the 12-year veteran post a 15-10 record with career bests in ERA (2.87), WHIP (1.026), K/9 (9.8), K/BB (5.41), HR/9 (0.8) and ERA+ (145).

Vazquez’s teammate Jair Jurrjens received the lone remaining vote. A season after emerging as one of the top rookies in ‘08, Jurrjens posted a 14-10 record for the Braves in a league-high 34 starts. His record was nowhere near as impressive as his 2.60 ERA or 1.214 WHIP. Jurrjens was arguably the most effective Atlanta starter as they attempted to climb back in the Wild Card race with a 4-0 record and 0.97 ERA over his final five starts of the season.

Here’s what the BDD crew had to say:

Bill Baer
Find Baer’s Cy Young ballot and reasons why he voted that way here.

Brian Joseph
“Carpenter was absolutely dominant when he took the mound and was nearly as big of a contributor to the Cardinals’ success as Albert Pujols. Tim Lincecum arguably repeated his ‘08 Cy Young performance but this time there was a CC that played an entire season worthy of consideration. If you’re wondering who the heck voted Jair Jurrjens as #3, it was me… if you were wondering why, take a look at his numbers.”

Jeff Lubbers
“In an otherwise virtual toss-up between Lincecum and Carpenter, Lincecum gets the nod for four extra starts and throwing 33 extra innings.”

Rob McQuown
“This was the most difficult vote for me, as I could see good cases for three guys.  Lincecum led in VORP and WAR, but some credit has to be given to winning games, since that’s the bottom line, after all.  Wainwright had the most wins and innings, but Carpenter was the best pitcher.  He missed some time, but made enough impact when he pitched to overcome that, leading the majors in runs allowed/game (2.29) by a wide margin.”

Eric Polsky
“This award should really be 1A, 1B and 1C. 1A goes to Lincecum because of very slight knocks against Carpenter (only 5 starts total in April and May) and Wainwright (big edge in run support). Lincecum carried the Giants all season long and if we are considering the Cy Young as Most Valuable Pitcher, Lincecum gets the nod.”

Zach Sanders
“Timmy’s performance was even better than last year. This wouldn’t be his first Cy Young and won’t be the last, either.”

Michael Street
“This one’s easier than it looks. Carpenter beats Lincecum in ERA, WHIP, K/BB and WPA/LI and does it coming off of both preseason and mid-season injury — let’s not forget he lost a month to an oblique — yet still managed 17 wins. Lincecum is a hair behind with Wainwright clearly third. Haren would have been in the mix with a better team behind him.”

Doug Thorburn
“Lincecum and Vazquez don’t have the Win totals of the Cards’ pair of Aces, but each pitched 40 more innings than Carpenter on the season, and they both have Wainwright covered in most other categories. It’s two in a row for Timmy.”

David Wade
“Wainwright, Carpenter, Lincecum — none of these would be a bad choice.”

Bo Wulf
“Give Lincecum his second straight Cy Young for his superior strikeout rate.”