Zack Greinke

The Kansas City Royals got off to a very good start in 2009. After 46 games last season, they had a record of 23-23, placing them second in the ultra-competitive American League Central.

That success quickly came to an end, and the Royals went 42-74 the rest of the way to finish 65-97, tied for last in the division with the Indians.

Despite a horrible finish, the Royals were able to hang their hat on Zack Greinke. Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award going 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA. He struck out 242 hitters and walked only 51 in 229.1 innings pitched.

In discussing the Cy Young award, the debate is hindered by the question of what, exactly, the voters are judging the players on.

Zack Greinke's win of the 2009 Cy Young Award should be considered one of the best accomplishments in recent baseball history.

The Kansas City Royals weren't a bad team in 2009, they were awful. Greinke's dominance on a 97-loss team speaks to his greatness.

The Royals are in the very competitive but winnable AL Central. Any great team needs an "ace" of the pitching staff to always depend on, but the Royals have almost an entire roster full of holes to fill in order to compete with Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago.

Perhaps there is hope for the writers who vote for the Major League Baseball awards, after all. Then again, it's always one step forward, two steps back with these guys.

One might hope that the preponderance of advanced statistical evidence might educate voters for awards such as Cy Young, MVP, ROY and the Gold Glove.

After all, as younger and (hopefully) more enlightened writers obtain voting rights, the subjective manner of awarding players should improve.

Kansas City Royals' ace pitcher Zack Greinke was deservedly awarded the 2009 American League Cy Young Award Tuesday afternoon.

Greinke, 26, who received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points, went 16-8 and he posted a 2.16 ERA for the putrid Royals (65-97).

Later today the Baseball Writers Association of America will announce who they’ve voted as this year’s American League Cy Young Award winner.

Although some believe there’s an obvious front-runner for the award, the field is still “technically” wide-open after a number of memorable performances last season.

A compelling argument could be made for a number of different AL hurlers, but in the end only one will walk away with the hardware.

Here’s a quick look at the top candidates for the Cy Young and why each of them does, or does not, deserve to take home the coveted award.

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