It’s been a week since Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello won the American League Cy Young award over Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, and Kate Upton is still upset about it. The supermodel went on a now infamous rant shortly after the results were announced. She didn’t hold anything back.
Upton defending Verlander during her Twitter rant should come as no surprise. The two are engaged, so of course she’s going to support the person she’s going to marry. And it’s not like Verlander was a bad candidate. He had a pretty legitimate case for the award. Upton wasn’t off-base in her complaints.
One drawback, however, is that Upton’s initial rant may have come off as dismissive toward Porcello. Both Verlander and Porcello were teammates on the 2009 Tigers, so Upton was walking a bit of a tightrope here.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports noticed that, and asked Verlander about the whole rant. While the pitcher didn’t offer a response, Upton took it as an opportunity to clarify some of her comments.
.@kateupton responded: “My comments have nothing to do with Rick personally. They had to do with what I see as a flawed voting system…— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 23, 2016
“…I hope the attention my comments are generating motivates positive change in MLB, for instance not allowing voters to send in their…
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 23, 2016
“…ballot a week before the season is finished.” Note: Verlander and Porcello were teammates with the #Tigers from 2009 to ’14.— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 23, 2016
There you have it. Upton meant no ill will toward Porcello, and makes some pretty compelling points regarding the Cy Young voting process. She mentions sending in ballots early, and that’s precisely what happened with one of the Tampa Bay area voters who left Verlander off his ballot.
Bill Chastain, who covers the Rays for MLB.com, admitted he sent in his Cy Young ballot with a week left to go in the regular season. After that ballot was submitted, Verlander allowed just one run over his final 14 2/3 innings. Porcello, on the other hand, gave up six earned run over his final two starts. The difference was enough to give Verlander a lead in ERA during the final week of the season.
Given how close the race was for the award, submitting a ballot early was a massive mistake. It also doesn’t make any sense. If you’re going to vote on an award, don’t you want an entire season worth of statistics to base it on? Can’t you just wait another week to submit your ballot?
Even in the case where one player is clearly going to win the award (like Kris Bryant in the National League this season), what’s the upside in voting early? And in a scenario where the race is extremely tight, there’s just no logical reason to submit your ballot before the regular season ends. How does this happen?!?!?!?
Again, we’re not saying Porcello was a bad choice. He had a legitmate case to win the award. I personally would have voted for Verlander, but I also had a full season of statistics to consider when I submitted my pick here at The Stew. Had I voted a week earlier, maybe it would have been a different story. But, you know, that doesn’t make any sense … so I waited.
You don’t have to agree with Upton’s Cy Young choice, and you can argue that she’s biased, but you can’t really disagree with her point. There’s a strong possibility Verlander lost out on the Cy Young award because one voter couldn’t wait to send in his ballot. She has a pretty legitimate reason to be upset about that.
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