John Maffei chose not to explain to WFAN's Steve Somers why he voted for Nationals ace Max Scherzer over Jacob deGrom for the NL Cy Young award.
Instead, he fleshed out his reasoning in a Thursday column for his employer, the San Diego Union-Tribune.
"DeGrom had a fantastic season and the Mets did a great job sending out his facts and figures," wrote Maffei, who was the only one of the 30 voters not to submit a first-place ballot for the Mets ace. "Obviously, a 1.70 ERA over 217 innings is a fabulous accomplishment. But he had 10 wins and nine losses.
"Yes, the Mets were a bad club, offensively and defensively. He didn't get run support. One emailer pointed out that if the Mets had scored two runs in DeGrom's starts, he would have been 20-6; three runs would have been 25-1; four runs 30-0.
"But you know what they say about ifs and buts," Maffei continued. "The numbers are what they are and - after hours of consideration - I was swayed by Scherzer's 18-7 mark in 220 2/3 innings on an under-achieving Nationals club."
Maffei has gotten considerable blowback for his vote, but he said he wouldn't change a thing.
Before casting his vote he spoke with a former Cy Young winner to help form his opinion.
"I spoke with Randy Jones, a man I greatly respect," Maffei wrote. "He was 22-14 with a bad Padres team in 1976 and won the Cy Young Award. In that conversation, Randy said, 'Wins are the most important thing in the game. You need to pitch to the run support you get, whether that's one, two, three or 12.
"After speaking with other baseball experts, looking at Scherzer's 2.53 ERA and his historic 300-strikeout season - making him one of only 17 pitchers to do that since 1900 - my vote was swayed."
So, Steve Somers, you have your answer.
