Michael Wilbon Says Jacob deGrom had Cy Young ‘Hijacked’ for Him

18 Nov

Jacob deGrom Michael Wilbon
NYPost.com:

Michael Wilbon is somehow now even more cranky about Jacob deGrom winning the NL Cy Young award.

The “Pardon The Interruption” co-host went on another bizarre tirade against the Mets ace and all of baseball on Thursday, when he accused analytics of “hijacking” baseball and allowing deGrom to win the award, despite nearly being the unanimous choice (29 of 30 votes) for the award.

“You know, Tony [Kornheiser], I’m not with these people. I don’t respect their judgment, actually, because I don’t value what they value,” Wilbon said. “I value winning the damn game more than the ERA! And therefore, it is analytical hijacking. These people have hijacked baseball, they want to impose their will and tell you what’s important. I don’t share most of, maybe none of, their values, and it’s absurd.”

Wilbon and the San Diego Union-Tribune’s John Maffei (who placed the Nationals’ Max Scherzer first and deGrom second in the Cy Young vote), are receiving a lot of heat for putting so much emphasis on wins. But baseball purist that I am and missing the days of 20-game winners, I’m just of the ilk that wins should matter…somewhat, because they display both achievement and mettle. Then too, it’s just incredible when you look back and see how continuously inept the Mets offense was almost every time deGrom pitched. Still, I could care less that deGrom came one vote short of winning the Cy unanimously, I just wanted him to win it period. Because he deserved it. And while wins do matter (I’m on record hoping for deGrom to at least reach double-digits in wins), deGrom did not ‘hijack’ anything, he won on merit and that alone.