In mid-November, Major League Baseball announced the results of the Cy Young Award balloting. Minnesota left-handed, starting pitcher Johan Santana claimed the American League Cy Young, while Houston right-handed, starting pitcher Roger Clemens received the honor in the National League.

Santana finished the season with a 20-6 record after compiling a 265:54 K:BB with 156 H and 24 HR allowed in 228 IP for a 2.61 ERA over 34 starts, earning unanimous support from the writers. He led the American League in strikeouts with 38 more than RHP Pedro Martinez, who had the second most Ks in the AL, and held his opposition to an OPS of only .564.

Although Santana previously performed effectively while splitting his time between the bullpen and the rotation, the 6-foot, 160-pound Venezuelan captured the attention of the national media in his first full-season in the Twins' rotation. Santana's professional baseball career began when the Astros signed him as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela in 1995. Florida snatched him away from Houston with the second pick of the 1999 Rule 5 draft in order to deal him to Minnesota for RHP Jared Camp, selected one pick earlier, netting the Twins both Santana and $50,000 for their troubles. Despite the fact he had not pitched above the A Midwest League, Santana spent 2000 in the majors with Minnesota due to his Rule 5 status. Rather than return him to the minors the following season to work on his starting skills, the Twins planned to keep Santana in the majors, however an elbow injury cost him most of the 2001 season. Coming off the injury, he began 2002 at AAA, but the lefty returned to the majors by June after demolishing the Pacific Coast League. Over the next two seasons, the Twins bounced him between the rotation and the bullpen rather than carving out a starting slot for him. Nevertheless, his solid starting performance over the last few months of 2003 convinced Minnesota to hand him a permanent rotation spot this year, and he quickly established himself as the ace of the Twins' staff. Given the 25-year-old's strong skill set, I expect to hear Santana's name consistently tied to discussions of Cy Young competition for the foreseeable future.

When constructing our theoretical ballot, we fully backed Santana as the most deserving candidate in the American League. Boston right-handed starter Curt Schilling ranked second on our ballot and finished in that position in the official voting. However, at that point our ballot deviates from the final results. Minnesota right-handed starter Brad Radke, who we strongly felt deserved a third place ranking, failed to receive any support from the writers. Schilling finished with a 21-6 record, compiling a 203:35 K:BB with 206 H and 23 HR allowed in 226.2 IP for a 3.26 ERA over 32 starts. Radke compiled a 143:26 K:BB with 229 H and 23 HR allowed in 219.2 IP for a 3.48 ERA over 34 starts, finishing with an 11-8 record. RHP Mariano Rivera received the third most support from the writers, while RHP Pedro Martinez, RHP Joe Nathan, and RHP Francisco Rodriguez each received a single third place vote.

After previously accumulating six AL Cy Young Awards, Roger Clemens claimed his first National League Cy Young this year in his first NL campaign. The 6'4", 235-pound, Texas resident finished with an 18-4 record after compiling a 218:79 K:BB with 169 H and 15 HR allowed in 214.1 IP for a 2.98 ERA over 33 starts. Although the 42-year-old once again is discussing retirement, his performance this season proved that his arm remains in excellent condition, and I think he will spend at least another year with the Astros as long as Houston takes action to remain competitive this off-season.

While we are not inclined to quarrel with Clemens' selection, he only ranked fourth on our ballot. We felt Arizona left-handed starter Randy Johnson deserved the National League Cy Young Award. Johnson compiled a 290:44 K:BB with 177 H and 18 HR allowed in 245.2 IP for a 2.60 ERA over 35 starts, finishing with a 16-14 record. He even highlighted his consistently excellent performance with a perfect game. Additionally, he led the National League in strikeouts with 72 more than Clemens, who ranked fifth, and held his opposition to a .555 OPS. Johnson finished second in the voting, but the writers remained overly obsessed with win totals, as evidenced by Houston right-handed starter Roy Oswalt's third place finish. Clemens can relate to Johnson with regards to losing votes due to win totals, having suffered similar snubs in the past.

Behind Johnson, we ranked both Milwaukee right-handed starter Ben Sheets and San Francisco right-handed starter Jason Schmidt before Clemens. While Sheets only finished with a 12-14 record, he compiled a 264:32 K:BB with 201 H and 25 HR allowed in 237 IP for a 2.70 ERA over 34 starts. Regrettably, Sheets received only one point in the official tally, though Schmidt at least finished fourth overall. Schmidt compiled a 251: 77 K:BB with 165 H and 18 HR allowed in 225 IP for a 3.20 ERA, amassing an 18-7 record over 32 starts.

Although he only ranked fifth on our list, we were surprised that San Diego right-handed starter Jake Peavy did not receive a single vote. As a starting pitcher who won the NL ERA title with a 2.27 ERA while finishing with a 15-6 record, we expected him to receive some support. Instead, writers gave votes to RHP Carlos Zambrano, RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Eric Gagne, and RHP Brad Lidge.