Rick Porcello Doesn't Care What Kate Upton Thinks About Cy Young Win
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Rick Porcello became the first Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez to win the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, beating out his former Detroit Tigers teammate Justin Verlander for the honor. The story really should have ended there - but Verlander's girlfriend, model Kate Upton, stole all the headlines when she spoke out about his loss.
"Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to [expletive] @JustinVerlander ?! What 2 writers didn't have him on their ballot?" Upton tweeted soon after the results came out on Wednesday night (warning: salty language). The root of Upton's gripe was that Verlander ended up with more first-place votes than Porcello, but ultimately lost the award because two voters left him off their ballots entirely. Verlander's brother Ben also had an issue with the voting.
Upton eventually went right at Porcello - and called for the writers' heads.
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
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) November 16, 2016
Porcello was eventually asked about it and responded, via ESPN Red Sox writer Scott Lauber. Sounds like Upton went in one ear and out the other.
Porcello on reax of Verlander bro, fiancee Kate Upton: "I honestly don't care." Eager to resume drinking "some really good bottles of wine"
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) November 17, 2016
The two writers who left Verlander off their ballots were both from the Tampa Bay chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Fred Goodall of the Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com. Complete ballot results for all voters is available at BBWAA.com, so at least there is some transparency to the voting process. Goodall had the Blue Jays' Aaron Sanchez and J.A. Happ on his ballot over Verlander while Chastain included the Orioles' Zach Britton and the Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka, so maybe there's an AL East bias going on?
Clearly, Porcello was understandably too busy celebrating his much-deserved win to care what Upton or the Verlanders or anyone thought about the voting. It's not like Porcello could control how the writers voted for the award.
However, Upton and Verlander do have a legitimate gripe, here ... it's mind-boggling that two writers felt Verlander didn't belong on the ballot at all - which means they didn't have him in their top-five - when 18 others voted him for first place. A player getting the most first-place votes and losing is sort of an indictment of the voting system - or the ones casting the ballots in the first place. However, Goodall and Chastain do not deserve to lose their jobs over having an opinion - even if it's one that literally no one else agrees with.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.