There have been numerous cases of good starting pitchers being converted into successful closers; Dennis Eckersley is the most famous example, and this season in the National League, John Smoltz set a league record for saves. It does not happen often, however, that a good closer makes a successful conversion into a starter.
        Derek Lowe of Boston led the American League in saves in 2000. But 2001 was a rough year for him; he lost the closers' role after the Red Sox acquired Ugueth Urbina. With Urbina still in the bullpen, Lowe moved into the starting rotation, and had a fantastic season for the Sox.

        Boston ace Pedro Martinez missed half of the 2001 season with injuries; this year he came back, and had another great season. The brilliant combination of Martinez and Lowe gave the Red Sox the best starting combo in the league — yet, as usual with the Red Sox, it wasn't enough. The Sox missed the playoffs, and Boston fans were forced to wait for another year.
        The Cy Young Award was won by Oakland's 24-year-old phenom, Barry Zito. By the end of his third season, Zito had established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was also famous for being a true left-hander — that is, a little different from the rest of us. His passion for zen philosophy, yoga, aromatherapy, stuffed animals, cool thoughts and groovy music earned him the affectionate nickname "Planet Zito". Oakland's awesome young trio of Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder led the team to a 103-win season that included a record 20-game win streak.
        The Cy Young vote was a close one. Everyone agreed who the top three pitchers were — Zito, Martinez and Lowe. The question was, what should the order be? There really isn't a wrong answer, I don't think; all three pitchers are very closely matched. But when forced to choose, I would take Lowe.
        Lowe was tougher to score against than Zito. His ERA was slightly better, and Zito also pitched his home games in the pitcher-friendly Coliseum in Oakland, while Lowe had to contend with Fenway Park. On the other hand, because of the unbalanced schedule, Zito had to make more starts against better teams. Lowe threw a no-hitter, though it was against the awful Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Adding it up, they are still tough to choose between... but I think that Lowe was a tiny bit better.
        NOTE: There is such a thing as outsmarting yourself. As a Canadian, one of my favourite examples of this phenomenon is the 1998 Nagano Olympics, when the Canadian men's hockey team lost a shootout with the Czech Republic and Dominic Hasek, ending their quest for a gold medal. The Canadian coaching staff chose five players for the shootout, none of whom was named Wayne Gretzky; the reasoning was that Gretzky was almost done and that a shootout was the weakest part of his game. They ignored the fact that he is WAYNE FREAKIN' GRETZKY and you give him the puck with the game on the line, regardless.
        That said, I think I outsmarted myself when I originally chose Derek Lowe as the Cy Young winner this year. Here's the argument:

        His teammate, Pedro, had the league's best ERA, and the dazzling strikeout numbers. But Lowe threw more innings. And Lowe also allowed only one unearned run all season; if you judge both earned and unearned runs, Lowe was the toughest starting pitcher to score against in baseball, including Randy Johnson. The question is, how much weight should we give to unearned runs?
        I have never been comfortable with the concept that pitchers bear no responsibility for unearned runs scored against them. Yet, when we look at ERA, we totally discount unearned runs from a pitcher's record. But I believe that pitchers are at least partly responsible for all runs scored against them, both earned and unearned. And let's be honest: fielders make many defensive mistakes that don't show up on the scorecard, yet result in runs being scored. Deciding what is "earned" and "unearned" is always a bit of a crapshoot.
        On this site, I have focused mostly on earned runs — simply because that's all the data I have. I really have no idea how many unearned runs Al Orth allowed in 1906. But when the data is available, as it is this year, I can't ignore that, when he was on the mound, Derek Lowe was the best starting pitcher in the league. And as for years past, perhaps I will one day re-evaluate my selections if/when more data becomes available.

        ADDENDUM: I think that most of the above reasoning is sound; four years later, though, I still don't know what to do with unearned runs. But I failed to follow the logic of my own argument; it now seems clear that when PEDRO FREAKIN' MARTINEZ is on the mound, almost any run that scores, earned or unearned, is an accident. Pedro was awesome, vintage Pedro in 2002, the best pitcher on the planet; to nitpick over who allowed fewer runs and for what reason was to turn a blind eye to this fact.
        In fourth spot, I'm taking the Blue Jays' Roy Halladay. Halladay's career started brilliantly; in his second career start, he came within an out of throwing a no-hitter. Two years later, he crashed and burned, posting a ghastly 10.64 ERA in 67 innings. He recovered from that disastrous experience, and this year was one of the best and most durable pitchers in the league.
        The Minnesota Twins had a surprisingly good season in 2001, coming close to making the playoffs for the first time in a decade, but falling short. They had some good young players and pitchers, but their bullpen was terrible. This season, it was a different story; the bullpen was great, and the Twins won their division. The closer was Everyday Eddie Guardado, who was in his 10th year with Minnesota, but was getting his first chance to close games. He led the league in saves. Setup-man J.C. Romero also had a stunning season for the young Twinkies.