Robbie Ray Named AL Cy Young Award Winner

[Krylian]

29 of 30 1st place votes.

 

Discuss

[Ehjays]

Awesome, he deserves it, I bet the one vote he didnt get is from a New York writer

[Ray]

I expected him to win, but in no way did I expect him to be nearly unanimous.

 

What a great season for Ray. Gotta give credit to the coaching and strength and conditioning staff too for helping Robbie get there.

[G-Snarls]

I expected him to win, but in no way did I expect him to be nearly unanimous.

 

What a great season for Ray. Gotta give credit to the coaching and strength and conditioning staff too for helping Robbie get there.

 

Nice

 

Now let's make a deal....

[Krylian]

Nice

 

Now let's make a deal....

 

He's looking for 6 years. I wonder if anyone gives it to him?

 

I'm guessing 5/125 is the final number and term.

[John_Havok]

Ray scares the hell out of me on a long term deal. He throws 2 pitches... and pretends to throw a 3rd and 4th. Yeah, his fastball and slider are both nasty, but... 1 slight dropoff and he's got nothing to fall back on.

 

On shorter term deals, I want him. but 5-6 years? No chance. I know there's risk in all pitchers, but Ray's risk profile seems higher than most top end guys given he just doesn't have more than 2 pitches.

 

I loved watching him this year, but putting that many eggs in Ray's basket is extremely risky IMO

[Inklink]

Hell yeah ROBBIE!

[Key22]

I would not be too worried to give him 5/125 - he was on mlb.com in an interview and noted his favourite pitcher was Randy Johnson a fastball/slider guy who was still effective at the age of 45!

 

Ray is a beast. I'd rather have a 1a with 2 pitches than some mediocre bum with 6 pitches. Ray don't need no stinking 3rd pitch. He's 30 - 6/150 - this takes him to age 36. Plenty of fine pitchers at 36. Have walker teach him a circle change if he begins to slow down. 6.7 WAR pitchers are tough to find.

[John_Havok]

I would not be too worried to give him 5/125 - he was on mlb.com in an interview and noted his favourite pitcher was Randy Johnson a fastball/slider guy who was still effective at the age of 45!

 

Ray is a beast. I'd rather have a 1a with 2 pitches than some mediocre bum with 6 pitches. Ray don't need no stinking 3rd pitch. He's 30 - 6/150 - this takes him to age 36. Plenty of fine pitchers at 36. Have walker teach him a circle change if he begins to slow down. 6.7 WAR pitchers are tough to find.

 

I mean, it's all fine and dandy to compare Ray to a Hall of Famer who was a complete unicorn and all... but....let's not.

[THANOS]

Ray scares the hell out of me on a long term deal. He throws 2 pitches... and pretends to throw a 3rd and 4th. Yeah, his fastball and slider are both nasty, but... 1 slight dropoff and he's got nothing to fall back on.

 

On shorter term deals, I want him. but 5-6 years? No chance. I know there's risk in all pitchers, but Ray's risk profile seems higher than most top end guys given he just doesn't have more than 2 pitches.

 

I loved watching him this year, but putting that many eggs in Ray's basket is extremely risky IMO

 

I agree. A dropoff in velo or spin and those results could come crashing down.

 

Sad to see Verlander leave the market but Jon Gray & Gausman or Scherzer would the best.

[TheHurl]

Lowest fWAR for an AL CY winner since Eck in 1992 (excluding non 162 game seasons).

[Jimcanuck]

I agree. A dropoff in velo or spin and those results could come crashing down.

 

Sad to see Verlander leave the market but Jon Gray & Gausman or Scherzer would the best.

 

The more ideal scenario is the Jays sign one of these (or Ray) and acquire a cost controlled SP by trade. Jays are talking to Miami according to reports.

 

That leaves FA dollars for arm barn upgrades and Javy Baez.

[John_Havok]

I agree. A dropoff in velo or spin and those results could come crashing down.

 

Sad to see Verlander leave the market but Jon Gray & Gausman or Scherzer would the best.

 

I'd be sorely tempted to back up the Brinks truck for Scherzer. Him I would pay 2/70-80 with an option for 3rd and sleep very well.

 

upfront cost, but possibly off the books by 2024 along with Ryu, Grichuk and a few others.

[Jays24]

I mean, it's all fine and dandy to compare Ray to a Hall of Famer who was a complete unicorn and all... but....let's not.

 

Especially when Ray has had ONE elite season, which conveniently happened during his contract year lol.

[max silver]

Especially when Ray has had ONE elite season, which conveniently happened during his contract year lol.

 

The whole contract year narrative is incredibly stupid. The man made obvious changes to his delivery and training regimen and was able to reap the well earned rewards. He isn't going to suddenly start eating potato chips and drinking beer all offseason instead of continuing to bust his ass to maximize his performance, this is a highly motivated individual we are talking about here.

 

Heading into the pandemic shortened 2020 season Ray was already in a contract year as well, and proceeded to have the worst season of his career by far. Contract year or not has no relevance here.

Edited November 18, 2021 by max silver

[Ehjays]

https://www.mlb.com/video/robbie-ray-on-winning-cy-young?fbclid=IwAR0kZ62G66HKfrB6SV7YKSRGb0uxmPczfV8qFdK7Nq3S7PfKDWHsfyzoSPA

[WryNGinger]

Amazing season by Ray! Testament to the focus and hard work he put in. Unfortunately the Cy Young award means he won't be back. If he had put in the kind of season to have him place 4th or 5th then the Jays would most likely have been able to come back with a 2-4 year deal. The win puts him in the type of contract that I doubt the head office bites on. I wish him best wherever he ends up! Unless He is in the AL East on a different team..lol.

[Spanky99]

Attaboy Robbie... well deserved!

[Dick_Pole]

I'll go on record to say that Robbie Ray should not get more money than Jose Berrios. And if he does, it shouldn't be with the Jays.

[BTS]

I'll go on record to say that Robbie Ray should not get more money than Jose Berrios. And if he does, it shouldn't be with the Jays.

 

I also would bet on Berrios being the better value going forward.

[Ehjays]

 

Teammates congrats message

 

 

Interview with Tim and Friends

[Brownie19]

I agree. A dropoff in velo or spin and those results could come crashing down.

 

Sad to see Verlander leave the market but Jon Gray & Gausman or Scherzer would the best.

 

Gausman's essentially a 2 pitch pitcher too....

[glory]

I have no interest in bringing Ray back on a monster deal either. He was great in 2021, but let someone else overpay for him. There’s just too much potential volatility with his performance. If he loses a tick on his FB or suddenly command disappears again and who knows. I’d argue Stroman would be the better long term investment, but I know that’s not happening in a million years.

 

Either way, congrats to Ray. Amazing turnaround from 2020. Hope him and Semien get paid in free agency. They bet on themselves and earned this payday.

[Key22]

I mean, it's all fine and dandy to compare Ray to a Hall of Famer who was a complete unicorn and all... but....let's not.

 

Yeah but he doesn't have to pitch to 45 only to 36 - there are a LOT of pitchers who pitch very well to 36. There are pitchers right now like Sherzer, Verlander and even Happ was decent at 36.

 

And he was an all-star previously so it's not like his year is a one-off. I suppose it will depend on what he actually gets but he's the best pitcher on the FA market. What if he's great for the next 5 years and he's great for the Yankees?

[Jays24]

The whole contract year narrative is incredibly stupid. The man made obvious changes to his delivery and training regimen and was able to reap the well earned rewards. He isn't going to suddenly start eating potato chips and drinking beer all offseason instead of continuing to bust his ass to maximize his performance, this is a highly motivated individual we are talking about here.

 

Heading into the pandemic shortened 2020 season Ray was already in a contract year as well, and proceeded to have the worst season of his career by far. Contract year or not has no relevance here.

 

Well if you really believe that Ray can be a CY Young candidate yearly going forward then our front office should be all over bringing Ray back on a 5/6 year deal. That would only take Ray to age 36 or so, which means nothing since we wanted Verlander at age 37 after not pitching for 2 years.

 

Personally, I still can't believe it's a good investment to pay a 2 pitch pitcher elite money long term for only having 1 elite season. We will find out soon enough where our front office lands on whether they're Ray believers like you or pessimistic like me.

[max silver]

Well if you really believe that Ray can be a CY Young candidate yearly going forward then our front office should be all over bringing Ray back on a 5/6 year deal. That would only take Ray to age 36 or so, which means nothing since we wanted Verlander at age 37 after not pitching for 2 years.

 

Personally, I still can't believe it's a good investment to pay a 2 pitch pitcher elite money long term for only having 1 elite season. We will find out soon enough where our front office lands on whether they're Ray believers like you or pessimistic like me.

 

Your entire spiel has nothing to do with my original comment. I simply stated it's lazy to point to the walk year narrative to denigrate an athlete's performance. I'll leave it to you to point to anywhere in my original response that states I believe the front office should be paying whatever it takes to bring Ray back.

 

There in nothing in his body of work from 2021 that suggests that he's suddenly going to lose all of the newfound effectiveness going forward. There's no guarantee he will be able to repeat the type of success he experienced in 2021, but his contract offers are going to reflect this fact as he's not going to be paid like a truly elite starter, he's going to be paid on the obvious second tier contract wise due to the lack of track record with this type of performance. There are plenty of red flags that suggest that his true talent is more in the 3.5 ERA/FIP/xERA etc. range vs the sub 3 ERA that he was able to produce, and the contract offers he receives are going to reflect this.

 

The two pitch thing is overblown. It would obviously be in Ray's best interests to work on improving either his curveball or changeup moving forward so that he's less vulnerable to the third time through the order drop in performance, but ultimately if the two most utilized pitches are elite and allow him to turn a lineup over two times successfully then it really doesn't matter what his pitch mix looks like. There is no law set in stone stating that pitchers have to use 3 or 4 pitches to be effective as starters, and Ray is a perfect example of how a pitcher can make it work if his two primary pitches are effective enough.

[polar bear]

Nice

 

Now let's make a deal....

 

He will probably pick a door.

[wilko]

Well deserved for Ray.

[G-Snarls]

[THANOS]

I'd be sorely tempted to back up the Brinks truck for Scherzer. Him I would pay 2/70-80 with an option for 3rd and sleep very well.

 

upfront cost, but possibly off the books by 2024 along with Ryu, Grichuk and a few others.

 

Yep I would 100% overpay for Mad Max and if we get burned finally by father time, so be it, but would sleep sound knowing our process was perfect!