The Minnesota Twins Have Two Real Cy Young Candidates

Too bad voting doesn't end 1/4 of the way through the season.

Very happy Gray and Ryan are off to strong starts.  We know there will be some regression, let's hope it isn't too drastic.

I don’t think either will be in contention for the award but am excited that we have two top level starters. I’m not the biggest fan of our FO but those were two really good trades. 

If only we had that ace level starter……

Let's be honest. Cole in NYC will win it. He probably will deserve it and that will be fine but let's not get confused about a comparison between NYC and the corn fields. 

Joe Ryan's K/BB ratio is siiiiiiick.

I love having two starters who are being floated as Cy contenders. Is it likely to happen? eh, maybe not but hopefully it's not because of regression bringing them too far back down. If Cole keeps going like this he'll be hard to beat between his excellent performance, stature in the game, NY media market, and the fact that if Gray and Ryan both keep kicking butt like this they'll potentially pull votes from each other.

Gotta say, I might be ok with someone else winning because voters couldn't decide if Gray or Ryan was most worthy by the end of the year. :)

Double checks….nope, it’s not a randball article!

I’d rather have 3 legitimately good starters than one Cy Young guy and little else. In the ‘real’ post season, it’s about how you match up at 1, 2, and 3. Yes, being at a real disadvantage at the no. 1 matchup can be deflating. But that can be overcome if matchups 2 and 3 are even or better….all the more realistically if the discrepancy at no. 1 isn’t dramatic.

I think this is what…at least at the quarter pole…SEEMS like a somewhat realistic situation for the Twins in 2023. Even with a faulty offense, you have a puncher’s chance if the starter is keeping you in the game. I don’t think that’s been a realistic playoff scenario for the Twins in a long, long time.

Now, if the bats and the bullpen will allow us to get there.

3 hours ago, USNMCPO said:

Let's be honest. Cole in NYC will win it. He probably will deserve it and that will be fine but let's not get confused about a comparison between NYC and the corn fields. 

Since Ron Guidry won it in 1978, a Yankees pitcher has won it one time. Twins pitchers have three since then.

I think they’ve got it wrong a few times, but don’t see any east coast bias (or west coast bias) for this award in resent history.

Ryan has something unique in his makeup. Gray is starting to regress a bit, but really since Ryan came up he has had some big game moxie and is constantly working hard to improve.  He also does not get fazed by the big stage as shown in some of his games against playoff caliber opponents. You don’t need to throw 100 to be an ace. Joe is the real deal. 

The advantage I give to Joe Ryan is that his pitching style does not appear to require a massive amount of energy. Sonny Gray looks and sounds like he's expending max effort with each pitch. If I'm right, then Ryan's game is more likely to last the season than Gray's game is. 

Still, as many have said, there's a lot of baseball yet to be played.

The dumpster fire that is the rest of the Yankees starting rotation is probably helping Cole out here. He is legitimately putting his team on his back. The Twins, on the other hand, have had a solid starting rotation this season. Gray and Ryan are certainly the two best but the others have been better than Cole's rotation mates to start the season. 

Honestly, I don't care much about the hardware as long as Gray and Ryan keep doing their thing. It would be awesome to go into a five-game series in October knowing that you have TWO guys who you can count on to get in done in game 1.

21 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Why regression?  Maybe this is who they are.

While I tend to be optimistic, if Ryan and Gray continue to pitch this way for the rest of the year, they would be putting up historic level numbers.  Gray's season would be top 45 ever, with Ryan right outside the top 100.

We can always dream...