Francisco Studliano, Jerstud Weaver, Justin Verstudder
Rookie of the Year? Cy Young Award winner? Is it all too much heavy-breathing to speculate that Twins superstud Francisco Liriano could win both this year? The 22-year old lefty from the Dominican Republic (a.k.a. the MLB spermlab) has 12 wins, a .97 WHIP, and an AL-best 1.93 ERA—almost a full run better than second-place Justin Verlander (2.77) and exactly one run better than third-place John Lackey (2.93…duh). He only pitched 5 innings in yesterday’s win over the Cleveland Indians, but he struck out 10 batters, notching his third two-digit strikeout game of the season. He has 125 Ks in 107 innings, but his team is 9.5 games out of first.
But if he wants the big prizes at season’s end, he’s going to have to fight off 23-year old Jered Weaver (yes, little bro of Jeff…though perhaps Jeff will soon become the “Ramon Martinez” of the duo). The Angels’ righty has an even more kickass ERA (1.15) and an even more ridiculous WHIP (.79), though a late start to the season means he doesn’t yet have enough innings to qualify for the rankings. But in the stat that matters most, he’s untopped: as of yesterday, he’s the first rookie in 25 years to win his first seven starts. And the Angels are just a game out of first.
By those standards, 23-year old Tiger Justin Verlander looks like an also-ran. I mean, his ERA is almost 3! And his WHIP is over 1! A record of 12 and 4? Dude, my mom could go 12 and 4. (Just kidding Mom. You’d be 16-0!) But to his credit, of these three rookies only Verlander’s team is currently in first, and with a cushy 6.5-game lead, too. If an end-of-year prize comes down to Liriano vs. Verlander, that could tip the scales. After all, how studly are you if your team doesn’t make the playoffs?
July 24th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Doesn’t Papelstud figure into this equation?
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July 24th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Papelstud is a *closer* Jeb. For this reason, I felt that adding Jonastud Papelbon would make this post a little bit too much like a baseball version of that old Sesame Street classic, “One of these things is not like the other.” Also, three is a cooler number than four.
You might also bring up Stud Lester of the Red Sox as another hot AL rookie. After all, he’s 5-0. However, he has not been as dominating (yet) as these three. And of course, Lance would’ve killed me. (Hi Lance.)
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July 24th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Oh really? Papelbon is a closer? I assumed he was just chronically tardy. I checked it out, almost twice as many starters (14) have won the ROY as relievers (8). Interestingly, the last 3 pitchers to win the AL ROY have all been relievers: Huston Street in ‘05, Kaz Sasaki in ‘00 and Greg Olson in ‘89.
What does this mean? Lance hates the Red Sox.
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July 25th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Last time I checked, nobody cared at all if your team made the playoffs when voting for Cy Young or RoY. That only matters for the MVP.
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July 25th, 2006 at 10:25 am
You don’t think that would come into play as a tiebreaker? Everything else being equal?
I feel like this is when Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were both up for Best New Artist at the Grammys. The anticipation is killing me!
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July 26th, 2006 at 2:41 am
Hi Sarah!
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September 14th, 2006 at 9:29 am
[...] Francisco Liriano, rookie stud pitcher, made his return last night from a month on the DL with a ligament problem—only to have to come out of the game in the third inning. The AP’s snappy lead: MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Francisco Liriano has heard plenty about Cy Young during a spectacular rookie season. [...]
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October 3rd, 2006 at 12:40 pm
[...] Now for the AL. Francisco Liriano was quite the stud for the Twins in the first half, but his arm gave out down the stretch. I know that’s not uncommon for a rookie pitcher, but still. This is the bigs, and ROY is a big-league award. No doubt Liriano will come back next year, stronger and tougher, and be as lights-out as before. His 12-3 record and 2.16 ERA are smoking, and even though his teammates have apparently nicknamed him “Franchise,” he didn’t go the full stretch and so I just can’t give him my ROY. [...]
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December 20th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Ok, I’m not a fan of blondes, I also tend to like the more curvy figures, but McGuire’s wife is definitely hot… a very pretty face. I liked reading that she had/or has had a real job and isn’t an ex-stripper or an aspiring model, extra points for that.
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Actually, pharmaceutical sales reps are responsible for a lot of evil. What is wrong with ex-strippers and aspiring models? How do you know she isn’t one?
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January 30th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Whatever profession, I’m sure she’d sell a lot of magazines, B-movie tickets, or Viagra.
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