New York Mets star pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night, getting 29 of 30 first place votes.
The one writer that gave Max Scherzer a first place vote over deGrom, John Maffei from the San Diego Tribune.
Maffei, a 1971 graduate of San Diego State, has been writing for the San Deigo Tribune since 2012. Maffei wrote hundreds of articles in 2018, though they were almost exclusively on local high school sports. He had only a few pieces that covered MLB, and none covering live events.
Longtime WFAN radio host Steve Somers had Maffei on his show Wednesday night. The call didn’t last long as Maffei hung up after only seconds.
Somers: “Can you look at yourself in the mirror?”
Maffei: “Can I? Absolutely.”
Somers: “No, no, no. You’re looking for 15 minutes of fame and attention.”
Maffei: “Steve, this interview is over, goodbye.”
DeGrom became the fourth Mets pitcher to win the award, and set a new record for the fewest wins (10) by a starting pitcher for a Cy Young winner.
The right-handed deGrom went 10-9 with a MLB best 1.70 ERA, 1.98 FIP and 0.4 HR/9. He also set a career-high with 269 strikeouts, 217 innings, 0.91 WHIP and 11.2 K.9. He also tied for the National League lead with his 10.0 bWAR.
