Kate Upton, the fiancee of Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander, expressed her frustration with this year's American League Cy Young voting Wednesday when it was announced Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello won the award despite receiving fewer first-place votes.
In a series of NSFW tweets, Upton had some pointed words for baseball writers who failed to include Verlander on their ballots:
Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to f--k @JustinVerlander ?! What 2 writers didn't have him on their ballot? He had the majority of 1st place votes and 2 writers didn't have him on their ballots?!! can you pick more out of touch people to vote?@MLB. Sorry Rick but you didn't get any 1st place votes? you didn't win. #ByeFelicia@MLB keep up with the times and fire those writers
On Thursday, Verlander explained the reasons behind Upton's outrage in a Twitter conversation with the New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand:
Verlander finished the 2016 season 16-9 with a 3.04 ERA, league-best 1.001 WHIP and 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings. Porcello, meanwhile, went 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.009 WHIP, 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a league-best ratio of 5.91 strikeouts to one walk.
According to the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the two voters who failed to include Verlander on their ballots were Fred Goodall of the Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com.
Chastain admitted in a conversation with Feinsand that he sent his ballot in a week before the regular season ended, and he disclosed that his choice for first place was between Porcello and Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton.
Over the final week of the season, Verlander pitched 14.2 innings and allowed one earned run. In his lone start during that same stretch, Porcello allowed eight hits and three earned runs in a 5-3 Red Sox win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
"I feel bad that people are upset about this; I did the best I could," Chastain said. "I went around the clubhouse, I asked guys. I agonized over this. The biggest thing for me was between (Baltimore closer Zach) Britton and Porcello."
Tampa Bay Times writer and chairman of the BBWAA's Tampa Bay chapter Marc Topkin noted neither Chastain nor Goodall voted with malicious intent.
"Both Bill and Fred are longtime veteran, experienced baseball writers and certainly have the ability to make what they felt were the proper decisions," he said, per Feinsand.
While the 33-year-old Verlander may have come up short in the voting, his production throughout the second half of the season indicated he should remain effective well into his mid-30s.
After he went 8-6 before the All-Star break, Verlander posted an 8-3 record, 1.96 ERA, 134 strikeouts and 24 walks in 110.1 innings after the break.
Based on those stellar stats, Verlander should be in the Cy Young conversation for a couple of more seasons as he seeks to maintain his status as one of the AL's premier pitchers.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.
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