Cy Young Flameouts

Bartolo Colon signed a minor league contract today with the Boston Red Sox. This got me thinking:

Who's flamed out the fastest after winning a Cy Young award?

While pitching for the Angels, Colon won 21 games to take home the AL Cy Young award in 2005 . He has failed to receive a major league contact two seasons later. While Bartolo works on getting another season in the majors, I researched who had the earliest exit after winning the Cy Young award.

Sandy Koufax should immediately come to mind in this discussion. The Hall of Famer finished his career with two straight Cy Young Awards before an arthritic condition sadly cut his career short following his 1966 season. After that season, the MLB decided to split up the Cy Young award into National and American Leagues.

Since Sandy Koufax, only one pitcher played less than three seasons after winning the Cy Young award. In 1980, Steve Stone, a long-time Cubs commentator, won the Cy Young after amassing a 25-7 record with the Baltimore Orioles. By 1982, he was out of the league. He retired following the 1981 offseason due to his arm troubles at the age of 33. Talk about throwing your arm out.

So, only one player during the last 43 seasons of the NL and AL Cy Young bowed out less than three seasons after winning the award. Jack Welch, LaMarr Hoyt, Pete Vuckovich, Rollie Fingers, Denny McLain and John Denny all pitched three seasons before hanging their cleats up.

The National League has recently seen a remarkable string of Hall of Fame pitchers win the Cy Young award. In fact, every NL Cy Young winner since 1991 is still pitching in the major leagues: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Eric Gagne, Chris Carpenter, Brandon Webb, and Jake Peavy.

That is, if you think Chris Carpenter is still pitching in the majors. After winning the Cy Young Award alongside Bartolo Colon in 2005, he has only played one full season since. In 2007, he made one start before elbow surgery caused him to miss the entire season. He's slated to miss a few months of the regular season before making his first start in a Cardinals uniform. This isn't the first time Carpenter has had major arm trouble; he had Tommy John surgery after his 2002 season with the Blue Jays. It is entirely possible that we have seen the last of the 2005 Cy Young Award winners. To have a Cy Young winner cut their career this short is rare. To have two Cy Young winners in the same year cut their career this short is extremely rare.