I’m with you on Felix deserving of consideration of a first place vote. After him and Greinke, the other three can fight it out for places three through five.

I would have ordered them:
Greinke
Hernandez
Verlander
Halladay
Sabathia

(Obligatory South Park reference)

On Kornacki’s “stats,” Verlander had a 4.20 ERA in those four starts with 120-plus pitches, so it’s not like he became Bob Gibson.

I can see a first-place argument being made for Felix Hernandez, though it is still weak at its foundation. I cannot see such arguments being made for another AL pitchers, however. There’s a clear gap between Greinke and Hernandez and the rest of the contenders (Verlander, Sabathia, etc.).

Greinke began his transformation when he pitched out of the bullpen in the minors in 2006 and in the majors for part of 2007. It was in the relief role where he learned to “harness” the power of his fastball. He’s spoken of this a number of times where he was able to let loose because he knew he was only pitching an inning or so no matter what, as opposed to going deep into games as a starter. Before his time in the pen, he was striking out about 6 batters per 9. In the two years since, he’s getting close to 9 K’s per 9.

And I’m not worried about Greinke playing World of Warcraft. He could be playing Guitar Hero.

Imagine if Milton Bradley said he was going to spend the off-season playing a video game and that he likes to look at some advanced stats because it gives him good feedback on the performance only under his control. My guess is Bradley wouldn’t be cool, he’d a selfish moron who doesn’t make baseball a priority. Bad Milton Bradley!

Guess it’s true what they say… build a bridge and no one calls you a bridge builder but s… oh nevermind!

I’ll bet you that Kornacki’s “Verlander justification” gained him more reads than anything else he wrote all year. Plus, he gains the support of homer Detroit Tiger fans who now see Kornacki as a guy who will do his best to support the local product they value.

It’s a pretty safe vote when you know you don’t have to worry about it swaying the “election” so to speak. In wrestling, they call it a “cheap pop” when the face comes out and yells out the home town city… this is nothing more than the BBWAA award’s process of a “cheap pop” for Kornacki.