Who Really Deserves to Win the Cy Young Award?

The oddsmakers, best I can tell, have set the lines for the American and National League Cy Young winners: It’s going to be the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Padres’ Blake Snell. I don’t claim to have any understanding AT ALL about that, but from what I’m seeing out there:

• You need to bet like a thousand or two thousand dollars (or more) on Cole taking the Cy to win $100. That seems pretty conclusive.

• You need to bet $750-plus on Snell to win $100. Not AS conclusive, but still a runaway favorite.

I bring this up because something pretty dramatic seems to be happening in baseball, Something we’ve all seen building for years and years, and now it’s upon us, or at least upon me: I have no real idea how to value starting pitchers anymore.

I admit the following will come off a bit old-man-yelling-at-cloudsish, but if you’ll stay with me I hope the point will feel less so.