Sunday Insider: My vote for AL Cy Young

Let's address the most potentially controversial award of this season -- the American League Cy Young Award -- and the importance of victories when choosing the best pitcher.

There's been a lot of talk about how this race will pit old-school seamheads against modern stat geeks. The truth is, we've already moved on.

Last year, Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young with a 15-7 record and Zack Greinke won the AL award after going 16-8. That was the transitional moment for evaluating pitchers.

I believe that if ball writers had a revote, there's no way Bartolo Colon wins the 2005 AL Cy Young with a 21-10 record and a puffy 3.48 ERA, and Johan Santana might have won a third Cy Young.

This season, Seattle's Felix Hernandez was 13-12 with a 2.27 ERA on a losing Mariners team. New York's CC Sabathia has 21 wins.

My vote would go to Hernandez. And here's one thing that's being overlooked:

Hernandez had poor back-to-back starts just once for a team with a ridiculously bad offense. Cliff Lee was horrible for most of August with Texas. Sabathia clearly benefits from being on a good Yankees team.

Look at the numbers any way you want. Hernandez was the best pitcher in the league this year. As for the rest of the awards:

NL Cy Young: Tough call between the Phillies' Roy Halladay and the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright. But Doc Halladay leads in complete games 9-5 and has thrown 20 more innings in the same number of starts. 1. Halladay. 2. Wainwright. 3. Josh Johnson, Florida.

AL Most Valuable Player: Teams eventually stopped pitching to Detroit's Miguel Cabrera. His 32 intentional walks are more than double anyone else's. 1. Cabrera. 2. Josh Hamilton, Texas. 3. Jose Bautista, Toronto.

NL Most Valuable Player: The Reds have emerged as an NL Central power, and Joey Votto has led the way. 1. Votto. 2. Albert Pujols, St. Louis. 3. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado.

AL Rookie of the Year: I call him the Human Surge Protector. Texas' Neftali Feliz has a blazing fastball and has shown the type of poise that should make him a good closer for years. 1. Feliz. 2. Austin Jackson, Detroit. 3. Danny Valencia, Twins.

AL Manager of the Year: Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire rolls with the punches better than anyone. He's had to win without a former MVP at first base and a multi-time All-Star closer. And that just scratches the surface. 1. Gardenhire. 2. Ron Washington, Texas. 3. Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay.