C.C. Sabathia Wins the A.L. Cy Young
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by Npurinto
C.C. Sabathia was awarded the American League Cy Young Award Tuesday by the Baseball Writers Association of America, beating out Boston's Josh Beckett. Although many pundits and fans thought Josh Beckett the favorite thanks in part to his 20-win season and dominant post-season performance, Sabathia won the award fairly easily, receiving 119 votes to Beckett's 86.
Sabathia led the league with 241 innings pitched while going 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA. Sabathia threw more innings, more complete games, more starts and more strikeouts than Beckett. The Angels John Lackey finished third and C.C.'s teammate Fausto Carmona finished fourth. The award means a two million dollar bonus for Sabathia who is a free agent after the 2008 season. Indians GM Mark Shapiro hopes to meet with Indians owner Larry Dolan in the coming weeks to discuss the offer he will put together for a contract extension for the big lefty. Re-signing Sabathia is one of Shapiro's priorities this offseason as the Indians will attempt to duplicate their 2007 success. "Our prevalent goal is to win and to win a championship right now," said Shapiro. "I can't imagine any criteria out there where C.C. doesn't give us the best chance to do that."
