Cy Young ballot expanded

[redsrbetter]

From 3 to 5 spots. The Baseball Writers Association of America had it's meeting this morning and this was decided. The weird thing will be those players' contracts that give them a bonus for the Cy Young ballot. I wonder how this will play in with these clauses.

[realmofotalk]

It appears to me this is stemming from Keith Law having left Chris Carpenter off his ballot in favor of Javier Vazquez.

[redsrbetter]

I agree for sure. I really like the idea though.

But this brings up the tired thought of why are the baseball writers the voters on all this anyway?

[missionhockey21]

Presumably, or ideally, because they are loyal followers of the game, exposed to virtually every team on some level and (again, ideally) have the statistical knowledge of the game and the ability to put seasons into context to be more qualified than any other voter type.

[Kingdom]

Did Law ever explain his reason for picking Vazquez over Carpenter?

[Saber]

Yeah, he would have had Carpenter 4th or 5th on a ballot. That vote wasn't a stretch.