Lost in the chaos of Barry Bonds' indictment and A-Rod signing a 10 year deal with the Yankees was Jake Peavy unanimously winning the NL Cy Young award Thursday (note: the combination of Bonds' indictment and A-Rod's contract is pretty much the wet dream of ESPN - all they need now is another Terrell Owens suicide attempt and Bristol will meet its Utopia).  At the age of 26, Peavy still has his career ahead of him barring any major injury, and would presumably be a perennial contender to win the award - something that can't be said for the seven guys below.  

After capturing Cy Young honors, their careers fizzled out rather abruptly.  

7.) Eric Gagne: 2003 -

He had a ridiculous .692 WHIP to go along with a 1.20 ERA and 55 saves in 2003.  Since then, he hasn't stayed healthy, having pitched just 150 innings.  He appeared to have gotten close to his ’03 form this season when he racked up a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves in 34 games with the Rangers.  Then he was shipped to Boston and imploded over 20 games, with Sox fans practically forcing Terry Francona to handcuff him to the bench in the playoffs.  Boston people always have been anti-goggle.  

6.) Pat Hentgen: 1996 –

Maybe moreso than any other recipient of the Cy Young, Hentgen tends to elicit a “He won the Cy Young? Why?” response from casual fans. In his 14-year career, he finished in the Cy Young voting only one other time (6th in ’93).  That’s not to say he didn’t deserve it when he won it.  In ’96, he went 20-10 with a 3.22 ERA and 177 K’s.  His most notable achievements after ’96 were 1.) Winning 15 games the following season 2.) growing a wicked Bull Hurley-style mustache. 

5.) Jack McDowell: 1993 –

Black Jack’s career was sort of like a really short roller coaster.  Right out of the gates, it slowly clicked up a hill until it reached a distinct peak allowing him to look down on the whole park.  Then it tipped over the edge, careened down the hill and headed right back into the station.  In just his second full season, he finished ninth in the Cy Young voting, then bumped it up to second with a 20 win-season in 1992 until finally cranking out 22 wins in ’93 and winning the award to complete his trek to the top.   Pretty hard crash after that.  10 wins in 1994, three wins in 1997, zero wins in 1999, out of the league by 2000.  But he sure did have some nice sideburns. 

4.) Pete Vuckovich: 1983 [Edit: It was actually 1982] –

He won the award in ’83 [Edit: we freaking said it was '82, bro] and was out of the league by ’86.  Unfortunately, we can say no more because it is company policy not to make fun of Vuckovich for fear that he will track of us each down, dunk us into a variety of dipping sauces and eat us like chicken strips.  Dude scares us.  

3.) Willie Hernandez: 1984 –

80 games, 32 saves, 1.92 ERA.  Pretty good season.  Not sure it was Cy Young worthy, but pretty good nonetheless.  What’s that?  Willie managed to win the MVP in 1984 too?  If it’s okay with everyone, we’re just going to chalk this one up to a really crappy season in the American League.
 

2.) Steve Bedrosian: 1987 -

He played in RBI Baseball on the NL All Star team, which should probably absolve him from membership to this list, but let’s face it, he’s like the Dexys Midnight Runners of Cy Young Awards.  One hit wonder.  The only time in his 14-year career he appeared in the Cy Young voting, he took home the hardware.   
 

1.) Mark Davis: 1989 -

A 44 save season and 1.85 ERA for the Padres turned Davis into only the fourth closer to win the Cy up to that point.  He cashed in his success with a $2 million-a-year deal (that was a lot then) with the Royals and promptly saved 38 less games than the previous year.  It wasn’t injuries, just good old fashion sucking. In the 8 years after, he registered 15 saves…total.  

The Top 7 is normally written by Jason Major.  This week, Josh Bacott and Patrick Imig wrote it because they feel they're better Cy Young Candidates.  Email them at info@joesportsfan.com

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